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
This wine oozes satiny delicacy with notes of ripe apple, citrus peel and beeswax but the vine age and soils lend the fruit a stony, serious complexity.
—
Katie Kelly Bell, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
These are stony, foreboding images that are nowhere near as sensuous as her previous abstractions.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 12 Sep. 2024
Exploring how my heart has gotten stony with regard to particular people.
—April Austin, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Oct. 2024
That means the flavor can range from mild and clean to stony or salty, and the intensity of the bubbles also varies from delicate to aggressive.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for stony 
Katie Kelly Bell, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
These are stony, foreboding images that are nowhere near as sensuous as her previous abstractions.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 12 Sep. 2024
Exploring how my heart has gotten stony with regard to particular people.
—April Austin, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Oct. 2024
That means the flavor can range from mild and clean to stony or salty, and the intensity of the bubbles also varies from delicate to aggressive.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for stony
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stony.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near stony
Cite this Entry
“Stony.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stony. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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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