recalcitrant
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/
Forms: form: more recalcitrant
form: most recalcitrant
Etymology: Borrowed from French récalcitrant, from Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s.
Senses: examples: text: His nimble fancy was recalcitrant to mental discipline.
ref: 1908, Edith Wharton, “In Trust”, in The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories:
text: There was something in her manner so reminiscent of the school teacher reprimanding a recalcitrant pupil that Mr. Snyder's sense of humor came to his rescue.
ref: 1914, P. G. Wodehouse, Death at the Excelsior:
text: Kenya's official "Cowan Plan," named after a colonial prison administrator, decreed that recalcitrant prisoners "be manhandled to the site and forced to carry out the task."
ref: 1959 June 8, “Kenya: The Hola Scandal”, in Time:
glosses: Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority.
glosses: Unwilling to cooperate socially.
examples: text: The more labile organic constituents of complex dissolved and particulate organic matter are commonly hydrolyzed and metabolized more rapidly than more recalcitrant organic compounds that are less accessible enzymatically.
ref: 2003, Robert G. Wetzel, “Solar radiation as an ecosystem modulator”, in E. Walter Helbling, Horacio Zagarese, editors, UV Effects in Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems, page 13:
text: The Hansa had no legal status, independent finances or a common institutional framework, while the major weapon against recalcitrant members (or opponents) was the threat of embargo.
ref: 2004, Derek W. Urwin, Germany: From Geographical Expression to Regional Accommodation, in Michael Keating (editor), Regions and Regionalism in Europe, page 47
text: Particularly recalcitrant examples which made it impossible to remove actual words while maintaining the balance of the set were resolved by altering a consonant in the base word to create a new base form.
ref: 2006, Janet Pierrehumbert, “Syllable structure and word structure: a study of triconsonantal clusters in English”, in Patricia A. Keating, editor, Phonological Structure and Phonetic Form, page 179:
text: However, when a clinician is faced with a more recalcitrant case, it is important to remember to ask the patient whether psychological, social, or occupational stress might be contributing to the activity of the skin disorder.
ref: 2010, Brian J. Hall, John C. Hall, Sauer's Manual of Skin Diseases, page 251:
text: The temptation is to regard him [John Ogdon] as an idiot savant, a big talent bottled inside a recalcitrant body and accompanied by a personality that seems not just unremarkable, but almost entirely blank.
ref: 2014 May 11, Ivan Hewett, “Piano Man: a Life of John Ogdon by Charles Beauclerk, review: A new biography of the great British pianist whose own genius destroyed him [print version: A colossus off-key, 10 May 2014, p. R27]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):
glosses: Difficult to deal with or to operate.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
qualifier: pollen; spores; pollen; spores
glosses: Not viable for an extended period; damaged by drying or freezing.
raw_tags: of seed
Synonyms: sense: stubbornly unwilling to obey authority
word: argumentative
sense: stubbornly unwilling to obey authority
word: defiant
sense: stubbornly unwilling to obey authority
word: disobedient
sense: stubbornly unwilling to obey authority
word: rebellious
sense: difficult to operate or deal with
word: stubborn
sense: difficult to operate or deal with
word: unruly
sense: difficult to operate or deal with
word: adversarial
sense: difficult to operate or deal with
word: obstreperous
sense: difficult to operate or deal with
word: intransigent
Derived terms: recalcitrance
recalcitrancy
recalcitrantly