stilted

1. (figuratively) Elevated or raised in a contrived or unnatural way; stiff and artificially formal or pompous; also, depending on redundant, unnecessary elements.Examples: "He gave a stilted bow and left."; "Untutored intellects are pleased with its frothy sentiment and its florid language, just as young and uneducated eyes are delighted with the gaudy hues of coloured prints in aquatinta. But though the tinsel of this stilted prose greatly contributed to [Salomon] Gessner's success in this and in every other country where his work has been naturalized, the story was not less essentially in its favour."; "Tired of this popinjay's stupid vanity and stilted affectation, and having a cheerless and dreary prospect before him, he reflected that every thing is worth something."Synonyms: awkward, laboured, affected, theatrical, affected, effete, fey, recherchéAntonyms: humble, natural, unstiltedfiguratively

2. (architecture) 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.Examples: "In Winchester Cathedral and Romsey Abbey Church, we have examples of what is called the stilted or horse-shoe arch, which is where the curvature of the arch does not spring immediately from the capitals or imposts of the piers, but the extreme points of the semicircle are continued straight down below the spring of the curve before they rest on the imposts, thus giving the idea of an arch stilted or raised, and somewhat approximating in form that of a horse-shoe."; "The stilted arch was a good and much used expedient in ancient and modern times."; "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."Antonyms: unstilted