adjective. Stiffly or artificially formal; stiff.

adjective. Having some vertical length between the impost and the beginning of the curve. Used of an arch.

Elevated, as if on stilts; hence, pompous; inflated; formal; stiff and bombastic: said especially of language: as, a stilted mode of expression; a stilted style.

adjective. Elevated as if on stilts; hence, pompous; bombastic

adjective. an arch in which the springing line is some distance above the impost, the space between being occupied by a vertical member, molded or ornamented, as a continuation of the archivolt, intrados, etc.

adjective. stiff and artificially formal

adjective. pompous

adjective. Supported by stilts.

adjective. artificially formal

"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."

stilted arch  

affected  unnatural  

stiltedly  stiltedness  

jilted  quilted  tilted  wilted  

archaic  banal  bombastic  colloquial  courtly  

Gongoresque  Johnsonian  Latinate  affected  artificial  

stilt