adamantine
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: chemistry
fiction
geography
geology
literature
media
mineralogy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
publishing
Etymology: From Middle English adamantine, adamantyne, adamauntyn (“(adjective) of adamant; (noun) adamant”), from Anglo-Norman adamantin and Middle French adamantin (“of or resembling adamant or diamond”) (modern French adamantin), and from its etymon Latin adamantinus (“adamantine”), from Ancient Greek ἀδᾰμάντῐνος (adămántĭnos, “hard as adamant; made of steel”), from ᾰ̓δᾰμᾰντ- (ădămănt-) (a stem of ἀδάμᾱς (adámās, “the hardest metal (probably steel); diamond”), possibly originally Semitic) + -ῐνος (-ĭnos, suffix meaning ‘made of’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, adamant + -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).
Adjective sense 1.2.4 (“having the quality of attracting or drawing”) and adjective sense 2 (“like diamond in lustre; etc.”) refer to adamant (“(archaic) lodestone; (historical, poetic) diamond”).
Base: adamantium
Affixes: -ine
Inflected forms:
form: more adamantine
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most adamantine
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Synonym of adamant.
pos: adj
examples: [A]t laſt appeer / Hell bounds high reaching to the horrid Roof, / And thrice threefold the Gates; three folds vvere Braſs, / Three iron, three of Adamantine Rock, / Impenitrable, impal'd vvith circling fire, / Yet unconsum'd.
gloss: Synonym of adamant.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: adamantine bonds    adamantine chains
Vnleſſe the Deſtin's adamantine band / Should tye my teeth, I cannot chuſe but bite, […]
Hovv impetrable hee vvas in mollyfying the adamantineſt tiranny of mankinde, […]
[T]o a vviſe man there can happen no iniury or offence at all, to moleſt the felicity of his minde, vvhich (in the Stoicks opinion) ought to bee imperturbable, and his heart adamantine.
[I]t vvas thought the beſt pollicie, and ſafeſt for the State, That the Romane Empire ſhould be kept, & held vvithin bounds, to vvit, the Ocean, the rivers Iſter and Euphrates limits ſet by nature, to the end it might be a State Adamantine, (for ſo Auguſtus himſelfe ſpeaketh in Iulian,) that is, invincible; […]
Theſe are the Adamantine Lavvs and Tyes of Religion, againſt vvhich no man can repine but he muſt repine againſt the Being of a God, or againſt his indiſpenſable Right of being ſerved in the in the firſt place, and of binding our conſciences to believe and our tongues to profeſs vvhat truths he has in a miraculous manner communicated to the VVorld upon thoſe terms.
Him [Satan] the Almighty Povver / Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie / VVith hideous ruine and combuſtion dovvn / To bottomleſs perdition, there to dvvell / In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, / VVho durſt defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.
Oh ſay vvhat Heroes, fir’d by Thirſt of Fame, / Or urg’d by VVrongs, to Troy’s Deſtruction came? / To count them all, demands a thouſand Tongues, / A Throat of Braſs, and Adamantine Lungs.
Alas! Leviathan is not ſo tamed. / Laugh'd at, he laughs again; and ſtricken hard, / Turns to ſtroke his adamantine ſcales, / That fear no diſcipline of human hands.
[T]he adamantine chain of the logic [of Immanuel Kant's writings]; […] took possession of me as with a giant's hand.
Start from your sculptured tombs, ye sons of fire! / Snatch, snatch those gentle forms from war's alarms, / And throw your adamantine shield around their shrinking charms.
He got home pretty late that night, and when he climbed cautiously in at the window, he uncovered an ambuscade, in the person of his aunt; and when she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.
Sex law is the most adamantine instrument of sexual stratification and erotic persecution. The state routinely intervenes in sexual behavior at a level that would not be tolerated in other areas of social life. Most people are unaware of the extent of sex law, the quantity and qualities of illegal sexual behavior, and the punitive character of legal sanctions.
gloss: Synonym of adamant.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: For two hours they stand; [François Claude Amour, marquis de] Bouillé's sword glittering in his hand, adamantine resolution clouding his brows; […]
He [William III of England] was proved by every test; […] by the imminent and constant risk of assassination, a risk which has shaken very strong nerves, a risk which severely tried even the adamantine fortitude of [Oliver] Cromwell.
In Measure for Measure [by William Shakespeare], the injustice of the judges, and the corrupt cowardice of the brother, are opposed to the victorious truth and adamantine purity of a woman.
gloss: Synonym of adamant.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: I thought this last information would soften the young man, but he was adamantine. He informed me that it was against all bank rules for a woman to draw from her husband's deposit without his order.
gloss: Synonym of adamant.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
obsolete
examples: Embravvne your ſoft-skind encloſure vvith Adamantine duſt, that it may dravve nothing but ſteele vnto it.
All mens eyes vvere preſently turnd to the North, ſtanding euen ſtone-ſtill in their Circles, like the poynts of ſo many Geometricall needles, through a fixed & Adamantine deſire to behold this 45. yeares vvonder novv brought forth by Tyme: […]
Hail, adamantine Steel! magnetic Lord! / King of the provv, the plovvſhare, and the ſvvord! / True to the pole, by thee the pilot guides / His ſteady helm amid the ſtruggling tides, […]
gloss: Like diamond in lustre; bright, lustrous, shiny; also, of a lustre: like that of a mineral with a high refractive index such as diamond.
pos: adj
examples: Raspite, a new dimorphous form of lead tungstate, is found on some of the stolzite specimens as brownish or yellow monoclinic crystals with a strong adamantine lustre.
gloss: Synonym of adamantium (“a fictional metal which is indestructible or nearly so”).
pos: noun
tags: also
attributive
uncountable
Related words: adamant
Derived words: adamantinely
adamantine spar
adamantinoma
adamantoblast
subadamantine
Translations:
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 金剛 /金刚
roman: jīngāng
lang: Finnish
word: rikkomaton
lang: Finnish
word: timantinkova
lang: French
word: adamantin
lang: Italian
word: adamantino
lang: Polish
word: adamantowy
lang: Portuguese
word: adamantino
lang: Romanian
word: adamantină
lang: Spanish
word: adamantino
lang: Spanish
word: diamantino