How to Use stilted in a Sentence

stilted

adjective
  • The guard scored 23 points but couldn’t make up for a stilted performance on both sides of the court.
    Julia Poe, chicagotribune.com, 10 Dec. 2021
  • The stilted house even provides its own porch for views from above.
    Patrick Connolly, orlandosentinel.com, 27 Aug. 2020
  • The dance is her, to be sure – lots of severe, stilted movements and cues from decades past.
    Scottie Andrew, CNN, 18 Dec. 2022
  • The boat took us across the great bay, past stilted huts, floating docks and flooded forest.
    Smithsonian, 17 Dec. 2019
  • The problem is that those lines get more and more stilted, taking many of the performances with them.
    Caroline Framke, Variety, 16 Dec. 2021
  • Even a recent birthday party for one of Aaron’s sons was a bit stilted.
    BostonGlobe.com, 20 Oct. 2019
  • In the light of day everything looks a little stilted, a little off.
    Jessica Ferri, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2022
  • Most have to attend their share of stilted happy hours and softball games.
    New York Times, 19 July 2022
  • Peng re-emerged last week, but in an oddly stilted fashion.
    Fortune, 23 Nov. 2021
  • Way down upon the Suwannee River Not far from this stilted home.
    Brett Clarkson, Sun-Sentinel.com, 18 Apr. 2018
  • Musk's mom appears on stage — little stilted, as these things go.
    Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 9 May 2021
  • The two sip their drinks and make stilted conversation.
    Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2021
  • Villagers in Dazhai spoke with the same stilted nostalgia.
    Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2021
  • Every so often, the green of the forest was broken up by stilted thatched houses.
    Emily Gillespie, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2019
  • No one here is particularly close, so the first of the film’s many tableside chats gets off to a stilted start.
    Jessica Kiang, Variety, 23 Sep. 2022
  • And all the scenes of orgies, disturbingly graphic childbirth and dragon-flying in the world can't fix a dull plot and a stilted script.
    Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 19 Aug. 2022
  • There are even stilted hotels and restaurants that tourists can visit.
    Janelle Davis, CNN, 9 July 2022
  • Making small talk can be more stilted over Zoom, and, sometimes, people just don’t get your sense of humor over Slack.
    Chloe Berger, Fortune, 24 Aug. 2022
  • And yet the conversations lack juice, and the engagement is halting and stilted.
    The New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2021
  • After some stilted chitchat, Fielder reveals to the teacher that their encounter has all been pre-planned.
    oregonlive, 12 July 2022
  • Heather’s ex, Billy, shows up to take a family photo and give his stilted stamp of approval.
    Olivia Crandall, Vulture, 3 Feb. 2021
  • The movie’s voice-overs are eloquent and emotional but use stilted language, which didn’t fit Mary’s journey.
    Alyse Stanley, Washington Post, 29 June 2022
  • The playful spirit of Empire cuts the stilted self-seriousness down to size.
    Darren Franich, EW.com, 30 Oct. 2019
  • All of this unfolds with prose that is borderline stilted and with major and minor plot turns that make little sense.
    Richard Lipez, Dallas News, 26 Aug. 2019
  • Browsing the web and general app performance are both a bit stilted.
    PCMAG, 18 Sep. 2023
  • Again, this is a rather stilted way of making use of self-driving cars and does not seem especially tenable.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 May 2021
  • So if my emotions are real — and as an actor, that’s my goal — then the stilted, strange dialogue will seem real, too.
    Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, 12 July 2019
  • Here, the stilted nature of Musk’s delivery feeds into what already feels like a mouthful of words in a foreign tongue.
    Matthew Love, Vulture, 9 May 2021
  • When the researcher finally asks them about their monogamy, stilted laughter is the only answer.
    Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2021
  • Amazon has been working on the AI technology that allows Alexa to speak to make the its voice sound more natural and less stilted.
    Mike Murphy, Quartz, 25 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stilted.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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