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
Synonyms
- affectless
- callous
- case-hardened
- cold-blooded
- compassionless
- desensitized
- hard
- hard-boiled
- hard-hearted
- heartless
- indurate
- inhuman
- inhumane
- insensate
- insensitive
- ironhearted
- merciless
- obdurate
- pachydermatous
- pitiless
- remorseless
- ruthless
- slash-and-burn
- soulless
- stonyhearted
- take-no-prisoners
- thick-skinned
- uncharitable
- unfeeling
- unmerciful
- unsparing
- unsympathetic
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
Analysis found the samples were ordinary chondrites, the most common type of stony meteorite found on Earth, accounting for about 86 percent of all space rocks recovered.
—
Julian Dossett, Space.com, 21 Jan. 2025
Netanyahu is far more popular in Israel now than before the war and the Egyptian leader, who has viciously persecuted its parent organization, the global Muslim Brotherhood, has been reprieved by Western creditors in reward for maintaining a stony silence over Gaza.
—Max Rodenbeck, TIME, 17 Jan. 2025
The hike up to the cross is difficult and swampy, with Tompkins and her team stepping between tufts of grass, while the glassy water along the shoreline laps quietly at the stony beach below.
—John Bartlett, NPR, 12 Jan. 2025
In historical times such fields were called ‘stony fields’ by farmers.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for stony 
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Julian Dossett, Space.com, 21 Jan. 2025
Netanyahu is far more popular in Israel now than before the war and the Egyptian leader, who has viciously persecuted its parent organization, the global Muslim Brotherhood, has been reprieved by Western creditors in reward for maintaining a stony silence over Gaza.
—Max Rodenbeck, TIME, 17 Jan. 2025
The hike up to the cross is difficult and swampy, with Tompkins and her team stepping between tufts of grass, while the glassy water along the shoreline laps quietly at the stony beach below.
—John Bartlett, NPR, 12 Jan. 2025
In historical times such fields were called ‘stony fields’ by farmers.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for stony
Dictionary Entries Near stony
Cite this Entry
“Stony.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stony. Accessed 26 Jan. 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
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