variants or stoical
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Synonym Chooser

How is the word stoic distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of stoic are apathetic, impassive, phlegmatic, and stolid. While all these words mean "unresponsive to something that might normally excite interest or emotion," stoic implies an apparent indifference to pleasure or especially to pain often as a matter of principle or self-discipline.

was resolutely stoic even in adversity

When is it sensible to use apathetic instead of stoic?

The synonyms apathetic and stoic are sometimes interchangeable, but apathetic may imply a puzzling or deplorable indifference or inertness.

charitable appeals met an apathetic response

When could impassive be used to replace stoic?

The words impassive and stoic are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, impassive stresses the absence of any external sign of emotion in action or facial expression.

met the news with an impassive look

When can phlegmatic be used instead of stoic?

While in some cases nearly identical to stoic, phlegmatic implies a temperament or constitution hard to arouse.

a phlegmatic man unmoved by tears

When would stolid be a good substitute for stoic?

While the synonyms stolid and stoic are close in meaning, stolid implies a habitual absence of interest, responsiveness, or curiosity.

stolid workers wedded to routine

Examples Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of stoic Remy seemed stoic, but his face was hidden behind Brant’s fire mask, its interior cloth covered with signatures of famous drivers that Brant had collected over the years. Rachel Kushner, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024 Johnson's stoic dude gets a dose of the holiday spirit, which includes ... slap fighting! 14. Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 27 Nov. 2024 On May 24, stoic Saturn will also enter Aries, forcing you to get serious and grounded in your routine over the course of the next two years. Roya Backlund, StyleCaster, 23 Dec. 2024 The heart wrenching film, based on a book by author Colleen Hoover, follows a flower shop owner named Lily Blossom Bloom (Lively), who falls in love with a dashing neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) and reconnects with her stoic childhood sweetheart, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar). Jay Stahl, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for stoic 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stoic
Adjective
  • For the time being, Bay is promising to be patient and supportive.
    Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2025
  • And even if all goes well, investors will need to be patient, likely for years, before Aurora generates revenue and profits to justify its $11.7 billion market cap.
    Alan Ohnsman, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • After a while, the doctor becomes almost empathetically numb or oblivious to the emotional state of the next patient that comes in the door.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025
  • Get weather and fire alerts via text:Sign up to get current wildfire updates by location 'Everybody at this point is just numb' Jimmy Dunne, a longtime Palisades resident who raised his children in the area, was one of the lucky ones.
    Isaiah Murtaugh, USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • The story of children financially supporting their immigrant parents can feed into the myth of the Asian American model minority, which, in part, stereotypes Asian Americans as obedient, hard-working and uncomplaining.
    Mike Dang, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2023
  • Queen Elizabeth II was formal, interested, uncomplaining, and always respectful.
    Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, 12 Nov. 2022
Adjective
  • The gains came amid relatively calm moves for Treasury yields in the U.S. bond market.
    Stan Choe, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Warm, funny and generally fairly calm seeming, Nimino doesn’t seem too preoccupied with his virality or with trying to top it.
    Katie Bain, Billboard, 23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Suddenly, a season of weekly must-win games and hard conversations gave way to a resigned relaxation.
    Paul Dehner Jr., The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
  • Crowds gathering for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival on the sprawling palace grounds reached into backpacks for umbrellas with the resigned look of people attending a supremely English occasion designed to be held in sunshine.
    Sophie Elmhirst, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • Blink Twice nods at a tangle of different contemporary ailments: lifestyle fetishism, wellness hedonism, our obscene fealty to stolid tech bros and their untrammeled wealth.
    Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 6 Dec. 2024
  • Allies say Starmer’s stolid exterior hides a steely ambition and a determination to win.
    Jill Lawless, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 May 2024
Adjective
  • The New York Times’ Ken Belson also wrote an interesting piece on long-suffering NFL fans in Canada. 12.
    Richard Deitsch, The Athletic, 20 Jan. 2025
  • For the second straight season, under her husband’s tenure, the team has risen to the top of their division, delighting its long-suffering fanbase and injecting positivity into the city.
    Kait Hanson, Glamour, 18 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Farewell to the impassive, agile grapplers, and to the whiplash pleasure of a badminton rally.
    Maya Singer, Vogue, 8 Jan. 2025
  • Taveras places his left hand near his heart, but remains impassive.
    Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Jan. 2025

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Thesaurus Entries Near stoic

Cite this Entry

“Stoic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stoic. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.

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