How to use stilted in a sentence

12 example sentences · adjective

Stilted means making use of or possessing a stilt or stilts, or things resembling stilts; raised on stilts. Example: “He gave a stilted bow and left.”

Examples of stilted by meaning

adjectiveMaking use of or possessing a stilt or stilts, or things resembling stilts; raised on stilts.

Beyin is also a wonderful beach retreat in its own right, as well as being the normal base from which to visit the unique stilted village of Nzulezo.2014 January, Philip Briggs, “Axim and the Far Southwest”, in Ghana (Bradt Travel Guides), 6th edition, Chalfont St. Peter...

adjectiveElevated or raised in a contrived or unnatural way; stiff and artificially formal or pompous; also, depending on...

He gave a stilted bow and left.
The stilted sentences of his written sermon seemed no longer worth the agony of descending that abyss of surge to rescue.1923, Compton Mackenzie, “The First Sermon”, in The Parson’s Progress, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, →OCLC, page 23
As soon as she sat down, I made a decision in my mind: I was not going to let our conversation conform to the stilted style that protocol would dictate.2015, Brian Grazer, Charles Fishman, “Brian Grazer’s Curiosity Conversations: A Sampler”, in A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life...

adjectiveOf a building or architectural feature such as an arch or vault: supported by stilts (“supporting pillars or posts”)...

The stilted arch was a good and much used expedient in ancient and modern times.1920, G[eorg Gottlob] Ungewitter, K. Mohrmann, “Vaults”, in N[athan] Clifford Ricker, transl., Manual of Gothic Construction … Rewritten by...
The tombs have similar tombstones, each fashioned out of a rectangular block topped with another block in the form of a half drum, and with stilted semi-circular slabs for the head and foot stones.2003, Mehrdad Shokoohy, “Kayalpatnam, the Renowned Muslim Port of Qā’il”, in Muslim Architecture of South India: The Sultanate of Ma’bar...

More sentences with stilted

Military letters should be formal in tone, but not stilted.From the entry in
The flesh of black walnuts was a protein-packed winter food carefully hoarded in tall, stilted buildings.2003, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest, page 81. From the entry flesh
Like Pullman's tomb, Beckett's dialogue is encased in its own concrete, in a stilted, unspontaneous delivery.1988 November 11, Lawrence Bommer, “Labor Relations”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry unspontaneous
You don't find long, stilted sentences with long-winded descriptions (which was one reason I put ‘The Dimension of Chance’ last).1946 Fall, Tom Jewett, Startling Stories, volume 14, number 2, page 102. From the entry letterhack
One of the diplomats mused, half-jokingly, that Britons were perhaps most missed for their fine command of English, leaving EU documents riddled with stilted euro-speak.2026 June 20, “Would the EU take Britain back?”, in afp. From the entry Eurospeak
This method is conducive to word-by-word transverbalizing, almost constant vocabulary thumbing, and a stiff, stilted version which is neither English nor French.1928, Edgar Clarke Fontaine, Ways to Better Teaching in the Secondary School, page 57. From the entry transverbalize

Meaning of stilted

adjective Making use of or possessing a stilt or stilts, or things resembling stilts; raised on stilts.
adjective Elevated or raised in a contrived or unnatural way; stiff and artificially formal or pompous; also, depending on redundant, unnecessary elements.
adjective Of a building or architectural feature such as an arch or vault: supported by stilts (“supporting pillars or posts”); also (generally) having the main part raised above the usual level by some structure.

Full definition of stilted

Questions about stilted in a sentence

How do you use stilted in a sentence?: Stilted is used as an adjective. For example: “He gave a stilted bow and left.”
What is a short sentence with stilted?: “He gave a stilted bow and left.”
What does stilted mean?: Stilted means making use of or possessing a stilt or stilts, or things resembling stilts; raised on stilts.

Adapted from Wiktionary: stilted (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use stilted in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/stilted. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.