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sturdy

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈstɝdi// UK //stˈɜːdi// stur·dy Archaic

adj. strong and solid. You use this to describe things that are well-made and do not break easily.

adj. strongly and solidly built; robust in construction or constitution. Often used to describe furniture, structures, or physical builds that can withstand pressure or heavy use.


SIMPLE

The table is sturdy enough to hold all these heavy books.

CONTEXTUAL

You should wear a pair of sturdy boots if you plan to hike on this rocky trail.

COMPLEX

Despite the fierce coastal winds, the lighthouse remained sturdy, its thick stone walls having protected the lantern for over a century.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

From Middle English sturdy, stourdy, stordy (“bold, valiant, strong, stern, fierce, rebellious”) (perhaps influenced by Middle English sture, stoure, stor (“strong, robust, harsh, stern, violent, fierce, sturdy”); see English stour), from Old French estourdi (“dazed”), form of estourdir, originally “to daze, to make tipsy (almost drunk)” (Modern French étourdir (“to daze, to make tipsy”)), from Vulgar Latin *exturdire. Latin etymology is unclear – presumably it is ex- + turdus (“thrush (bird)”), but how this should mean “daze” is unclear. A speculative theory is that thrushes eat leftover winery grapes and thus became drunk, but this meets with objections. Disease in cows and sheep is by extension of sense of “daze”, while sense of “strongly built” is of late 14th century, and relationship to earlier sense is less clear, perhaps from sense of a firm strike (causing a daze) or a strong, violent person.

Usage

Can be used both attributively (a sturdy chair) and predicatively (the chair is sturdy).

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