variants
or less commonly stoney
stonier; stoniest
2
a
: insensitive to pity or human feeling : obdurate
b
: manifesting no movement or reaction : dumb, expressionless
c
: fearfully gripping : petrifying
3
archaic
: consisting of or made of stones
4
British
: stone broke
Examples of stony in a Sentence
She gave him a stony stare.
the judge's stony demeanor didn't raise the defendant's hopes for a more lenient sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Sam Teicher, chief reef officer at Coral Vita, emphasized in an email interview that decades of degradation have wiped out at least 80% of the Bahamas' coral reefs, a crisis exacerbated by events like Hurricane Dorian and the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease.
—
Emese MacZko, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025
There was some stony silence that seemed to annoy Trump.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 8 Mar. 2025
Are the Oscars more important, more intimidating than mocking Washington big shots to their often stony faces?
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2025
Over the course of these pictures, Mad Max himself has gone from a man who has lost everything to an existential ghost, a quiet and stony figure with no past and no future.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stony
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Emese MacZko, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025
There was some stony silence that seemed to annoy Trump.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 8 Mar. 2025
Are the Oscars more important, more intimidating than mocking Washington big shots to their often stony faces?
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2025
Over the course of these pictures, Mad Max himself has gone from a man who has lost everything to an existential ghost, a quiet and stony figure with no past and no future.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stony
Cite this Entry
“Stony.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stony. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
stony
adjective
variants
also stoney
stonier; stoniest
1
a
: full of stones
stony soil
b
: hard as stone
a stony seed
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share