ˈstəfē, -fi adjective
( -er/-est )
1. obsolete : containing stuff or substance : substantial
2. : sullen , ill-humored
wrong feeding may have much to do with … stuffy , ill-natured, contractive individuals — H.A.Overstreet
3.
a. : lacking oxygen : oppressive to the breathing : stale , close
it was not and stuffy , and the air was gray with smoke — W.S.Maugham
popping into the stuffy little office — Vicki Baum
b. : stuffed or choked up
the stuffy feeling in the head — H.G.Armstrong
4. : lacking in vitality or interest : dull , stodgy
a woodenly earnest, relentlessly stuffy sort of fellow … not very strong on humor — Alan Devoe
the press conference … was far from solemn and stuffy — Stafford Derby
5. : provincial in outlook : narrowly inflexible in standards of conduct : self-righteous
am abiding by the rather involved, stuffy code of ethics — R.L.Riggs
resistance to stuffy taboos and pieties — N.E.Nelson
against the orders of a rather stuffy police commissioner — S.H.Adams