made of sterner stuff
made of sterner stuff adjective: strong and determined (especially more so than someone else, to whom one is being compared).
Adjective
made of sterner stuff (not comparable)
- strong and determined (especially more so than someone else, to whom one is being compared).
- When that the poore haue cry'de, Cæsar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]... - […] sign hung from the bronze knob, and it stated without equivocation that the Britannic Museum was "closed for repairs."
But the Inspector was made of stern stuff. He closed his right hand and with the resulting fist pounded formidably on the bronze.
[…] out popped the gargoylish head of a...1933, Barnaby Ross, Drury Lane's Last Case, March 1946 republication as by Ellery Queen, Little, Brown, page 45
- When that the poore haue cry'de, Cæsar hath wept:
Questions about made of sterner stuff
- What does made of sterner stuff mean?
- Made of sterner stuff means strong and determined (especially more so than someone else, to whom one is being compared).
- What part of speech is made of sterner stuff?
- Made of sterner stuff is an adjective.
Words near made of sterner stuff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: made of sterner stuff (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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