adamant

American  

[ad-uh-muhnt, -mant] / ˈæd ə mənt, -ˌmænt /

adjective

1. utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion in spite of all appeals, urgings, etc.

   Synonyms:

   uncompromising, rigid, inflexible

   Antonyms:

   yielding, easygoing, flexible

2. too hard to cut, break, or pierce.

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noun

1. any impenetrably or unyieldingly hard substance.

2. a legendary stone of impenetrable hardness, formerly sometimes identified with the diamond.

adamant British  

/ ˈædəmənt /

adjective

1. unshakable in purpose, determination, or opinion; unyielding

2. a less common word for adamantine

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noun

1. any extremely hard or apparently unbreakable substance

2. a legendary stone said to be impenetrable, often identified with the diamond or loadstone

Other Word Forms

• adamance
  noun
• adamancy
  noun
• adamantly
  adverb
• unadamant
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of adamant

First recorded before 900; Middle English, from Old French adamaunt, from Latin adamant- (stem of adamas ) “hard metal (perhaps steel), diamond,” from Greek, equivalent to a- a- ⁶ + -damant- verbal adjective of damân “to tame, conquer”; replacing Old English athamans (from Medieval Latin ) and Middle English aymont, from Middle French aimant, from unattested Vulgar Latin adimant-, from Latin

Explanation

If you stubbornly refuse to change your mind about something, you are adamant about it. This word's story begins in ancient Greece, where philosophers spoke about a legendary unbreakable stone or metal they called adamas (literally, "invincible"). In English, people began to use the word to refer to something that cannot be altered, and then in the twentieth century — after adamant had been in English for about a thousand years — it came to be used as an adjective to mean "unyielding as stone." If you're adamant about something, no amount of persuasion is going to convince you otherwise.

Example Sentences

Adamant that Lance had done nothing wrong, Carter dug in his heels and publicly told his friend, “Bert, I’m proud of you.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2024

Inside the Adamant, a convivial atmosphere of disorder reigns.

From New York Times • Mar. 28, 2024

Adamant Homes of Mill Creek bought it in October 2022.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 1, 2024

Adamant not to label him a "sell-out", as some critics have done over the years, Mr Lonzi does say that Mr Mandela compromised too much during negotiations with the white-minority government.

From BBC • Dec. 5, 2023

Pa. You might as well bid me make an Adamant sensible of it.

From Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. by Erasmus, Desiderius

Related Words

• determined
• insistent
• intransigent
• resolute
• rigid
• stubborn
• uncompromising