restiff
restiff is the alternative form of restive.
Meaning of restive
Adjective
restive (comparative more restive, superlative most restive)
- Impatient under delay, duress, or control.
- The horses were now more restive than ever, and Johann was trying to hold them in.1914, Bram Stoker, “Dracula's Guest”, in Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories
- Synonyms:
- anxious, champing at the bit, fidgety, restless, uneasy
- Resistant to control; stubborn.
- Yet I am of Opinion, this Defect ariſeth chiefly from a perverſe, reſtive Diſpoſition. For they are cunning, malicious, treacherous and revengeful.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Relates Several Particulars of the Yahoos. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […]...
- Synonyms:
- disobedient, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, uncooperative, unruly
- Refusing to move, especially in a forward direction.
- Synonyms:
- balky
Synonyms of restiff
Words formed from restiff
Questions about restiff
- What is restiff the alternative form of?
- Restiff is the alternative form of restive.
Words near restiff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: restiff (page history and authors); restive (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “restiff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/restiff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.