stiff-upper-lippery
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
affected or exaggerated display of stoicism
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
biểu hiện giả tạo hoặc quá mức của sự kiên nhẫn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: behavior with an upper lip that is stiff
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The politician's stiff-upper-lippery during the scandal was unconvincing
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “stiff-upper-lippery” mean?
affected or exaggerated display of stoicism Literally: behavior with an upper lip that is stiff
Is “stiff-upper-lippery” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.