Word Confusion: Ridged versus Rigid

Posted February 18, 2020 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
22 Dec 2022

I read that “. . . the man went ridged, about to retaliate . . .”, and I suspect the author meant that the man had gone rigid, i.e., stiff.

I’m positive she didn’t mean he had raised lines on him.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Ridged	Rigid
Aesthetic Ridged Gourd is Thamizhpparithi Maari’s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Polyethylene Pipe Lengths, 4 January 2019, is GordonJ86‘s own work is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — These pipes look rigid to me.
Part of Grammar:
Morpheme: ridge Adjective; Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: ridges Gerund: ridging Third person present verb: ridges Past tense or past participle: ridged Present participle: ridging	Adjective; Adverb; Noun Plural for the noun: rigids
Adjective: [Of an object or area] With raised lines on the surface Noun: A long narrow hilltop, mountain range, or watershed The line or edge formed where the two sloping sides of a roof meet at the top [Meteorology] An elongated region of high atmospheric pressure A narrow raised band running along or across a surface A raised strip of arable land, especially (in medieval open fields) one of a set separated by furrows [Obsolete] The back or backbone of an animal, especially a whale [Anatomy] A long, narrow, or crested part of the body, as on the nose Verb, intransitive: [Of a surface] Form into or rise up as a narrow raised band Verb, transitive: Mark with or form into narrow raised bands Form (arable land) into raised strips separated by furrows	Adjective: Unable to bend or be forced out of shape Inflexible, strict, or severe [Of a person or part of the body] Stiff and unmoving, especially as a result of shock or fear Not able to be changed or adapted Not adaptable in outlook, belief, or response Exacting Thorough Rigorous So as to meet precise standards Stringent [Mechanics] Of, relating to, or noting a body in which the distance between any pair of points remains fixed under all forces Having infinite values for its shear modulus, bulk modulus, and Young’s modulus [Aeronautics; of an airship or dirigible] Having a form maintained by a stiff, unyielding structure contained within the envelope Pertaining to a helicopter rotor that is held fixedly at its root Adverb: Completely or excessively Noun: [British] A lorry which is not articulated
Examples:
Adjective: I prefer to use a ridged iron grill pan. You’ll need boots with thick, ridged soles. Nah, that pumpkin has a deeply ridged surface, and it will be difficult to follow the lines. In the Antarctic, ships will encounter hazardous ice conditions such as pressured and ridged ice. Noun: They were on the northeast ridge of Everest. The roof was unusual due to the relative heights of the eaves and the ridge. It was a high-pressure ridge helping to steer cyclones further south. You should buff your nails in order to smooth ridges. A path led through the ridges and furrows of fields long left to nature. A whale’s backbone rises up like a ridge. Notice the bump on the ridge of his nose. Verb, intransitive: The crust of the earth ridged. The wagon rattled along a road ridged around a ravine. The land ridges towards the South. Verb, transitive: The ridged sand of the beach formed amazing shadows. It was a field plowed in narrow stretches that ridged up slightly. The table’s steel surface was ridged with a network of channels.	Adjective: It was a seat of rigid orange plastic. His face grew rigid with fear. Teachers are being asked to unlearn rigid rules for labeling children. Ski instructors have become less rigid about style. He was a rigid disciplinarian. Regency England had rigid rules of social behavior. Man, that was a rigid examination! The lenses must be ground to rigid specifications. A rigid body is usually considered as a continuous distribution of mass. The Young’s modulus for a perfectly rigid body is infinite. Rigid ships are the dirigibles in which the bag is built around a metallic framework. A rigid rotor system is mechanically simple. Adverb: The lecture bored him rigid. They sat rigid in their seats. The defined terms were rigid. Noun: The company only had rigids available. I’ll not be going through any small towns with this rigid. The Zeppelin rigids were considered too slow and there were concerns with their reliability operating over water.
Derivatives:
Adjective: overrigid, ridgelike, ridgy, unridged	Adverb: overrigidly, rigidly Noun: rigidity, rigidification, rigidness Verb: rigidify
History of the Word:
Old English hrycg meaning spine, crest is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch rug and the German Rücken meaning back.	Late Middle English from the Latin rigidus, which is from rigere meaning be stiff.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

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