obstinate
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɒb.stɪ.nət/
ipa: /ˈɒb.stɪ.nɪt/
enpr: äb'stənət
ipa: /ˈɑb.stə.nət/
ipa: /ˈɑb.stə.nɪt/
Forms: form: more obstinate
form: most obstinate
form: obstinant
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English obstinat(e) (“obstinate, stubborn”), from Latin obstinātus, perfect passive participle of obstinō (“set one's mind firmly upon, resolve”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ob (“before”) + *stinare, from stare (“to stand”). Doublet of ostinato.
Senses: examples: text: From this consideration it is that we have derived the custom, in times of war, to punish […] those who are obstinate to defend a place that by the rules of war is not tenable […]
ref: 1686, Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, That men are justly punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort that is not in reason to be defended:
text: […] the junior Osborne was quite as obstinate as the senior: when he wanted a thing, quite as firm in his resolution to get it; and quite as violent when angered, as his father in his most stern moments
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 21, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
glosses: Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.
examples: 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part IV, Chapter XXIX,
Now it happened that Kasturbai […] had again begun getting haemorrhage, and the malady seemed to be obstinate.
glosses: Not easily subdued or removed.
raw_tags: of inanimate things
examples: text: He had the same pile of curly hair, but he was clean-shaven with a heavy, obstinate jowl.
ref: 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
glosses: Typical of an obstinate person; fixed and unmoving.
raw_tags: of a facial feature
Synonyms: sense: stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course
word: bloody-minded
word: persistent
word: stubborn
word: pertinacious
sense: not easily subdued
word: persistent
sense: not easily subdued
word: unrelenting
sense: not easily subdued
word: inexorable
word: adamant
word: ardent
word: bent on
word: bullheaded
word: certain
word: chronic
word: confirmed
word: determined
word: diehard
word: dogged
word: hard-hearted
word: hard-nosed
word: hardheaded
word: headstrong
word: immovable
word: incalcitrant
word: inflexible
word: irrefragable
word: insistent
word: intractable
word: intransigent
word: intrepid
word: inveterate
word: mulish
word: obdurate
word: obstinate
word: obstreperous
word: peevish
word: peremptory
word: pigheaded
word: recalcitrant
word: refractory
word: resolute
word: resolved
word: rigid
word: self-willed
word: stalwart
word: staunch
word: steadfast
word: steady
word: stubborn as a mule
word: sullen
word: tenacious
word: terminal
word: thran
word: thwart
word: tough
word: truculent
word: unbending
word: uncompromising
word: unyielding
word: vehement
word: wilful
word: willful
Hypernyms: word: hard
Hyponyms: word: hellbent
word: indomitable
word: iron-fisted
word: iron-handed
word: iron-willed
word: monomaniacal
word: perverse
word: relentless
word: tireless
Derived terms: obstinacy
obstinately
obstinateness
unobstinate
Related terms: word: recidivist
word: contrary
word: obstinacy
word: persist