rigid

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

RIG'ID, adjective [Gr. to be stiff; Latin frigeo, frigidus; Heb. to be still, to be stiff.] 1. Stiff; not pliant; not easily bent. It is applied to bodies or substances that are naturally soft or flexible, but not fluid. We never say, a rigid stone or rigid iron, nor do we say, rigid ice; but we say, an animal body or limb, when cold, is rigid rigid is then opposed to flexible, but expresses less than inflexible. 2. Strict in opinion, practice or discipline; severe in temper; opposed to lax or indulgent; as a rigid father or master; a rigid officer. 3. Strict; exact; as a rigid law or rule; rigid discipline; rigid criticism. 4. Severely just; as a rigid sentence or judgment. 5. Exactly according to the sentence or law; as rigid execution.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

More founding-era words: liberty · virtue · republic · justice · providence · commerce · militia · arms · prudence · establishment · religion · usurpation · tyranny · citizen · unalienable · sovereign