Definition of "stilted" [stilt•ed]

• Stiffly or artificially formal; stiff. (adjective)
• Architecture Having some vertical length between the impost and the beginning of the curve. Used of an arch. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But there's a certain ... stilted character to them that I came to realize was the emergent property of all those swirling styles and ideas, cross-pollinating and recombining outside of the Anglo Bubble."
• "If you look at their NASA Message Construct all you get are partial, generic ideas contained in stilted sentences - including what to say in a proverbial "Elevator Speech" with someone (I am guessing here) who wants to know what NASA does."
• "I shall type in stilted sentences, where humorous."