Synonyms for stilted
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Awkward — elevated or raised in a contrived or unnatural way; stiff and artificially formal or pompous; also, depending…
awkward, pretentious, turgid, pompous, high-sounding, bombastic, affected, theatrical, effete, highfalutin, grandiose, labored US, laboured UK, inflated, grandiloquent, stagey, tumid, magniloquent, declamatory, rhetorical, high-flown, orotund
2. Contrived
contrived, hokey informal US, artificial
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Elevated or raised in a contrived or unnatural way; stiff and artificially formal or pompous; also, depending on redundant, unnecessary elements.
He gave a stilted bow and left.
- adj. 2
Making use of or possessing a stilt or stilts, or things resembling stilts; raised on stilts.
Example sentences
- awkward At first the trainees were awkward in his company.
- pretentious I now have the ability to be a pretentious prick.
- pompous It's much too pompous for such a trivial thing.
- turgid He pressed his turgid sex against the center of her womanhood.
- unnatural This sentence sounds unnatural to me as an American.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| stilted | rising | |
| awkward | rising | |
| pretentious | steady | |
| pompous | rising | |
| turgid | falling | |
| unnatural | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- hokey2, tumid
- 6 letters
- turgid2, effete2, stagey
- 7 letters
- awkward2, pompous2, labored2, orotund
- 8 letters
- affected3, inflated3, laboured
- 9 letters
- unnatural4, contrived2, grandiose3, bombastic3
- 10 letters
- artificial4, theatrical4, rhetorical4
- 11 letters
- pretentious3, highfalutin4, declamatory
- 12 letters
- magniloquent
- 13 letters
- grandiloquent4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (hokey2 = 2 syllables).