adamantine
Americanadjective
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utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.
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too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
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like a diamond in luster.
adjective
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very hard; unbreakable or unyielding
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having the lustre of a diamond
Etymology
Origin of adamantine
First recorded in 1200–1250; Middle English, from Latin adamantinus, from Greek adamántinos see adamant, -ine 1
Explanation
Something adamantine is unbreakable. Adamantine is often used in a figurative way. If you’re bound by adamantine chains, get comfy because you’re not breaking free! When someone is adamant, the person won't budge or yield. Anything adamantine is pretty much unbreakable and invulnerable. Adamantine substances also tend to be bright and shiny like diamonds. When used figuratively, adamantine can describe something unbreakable, like the adamantine will of a marathon runner.
Vocabulary lists containing adamantine
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Adamantine as was the lichen-covered heap of granite, it was of far more mutable a quality than were the dispositions of those who had so stubbornly let it fall into decay.
From The Wall Between by Bassett, Sara Ware
Origen, after scholarly labors so vast as to earn for him the title of the Adamantine, died in 254, in consequence of his sufferings in the Diocletian persecution.
From Outline of Universal History by Fisher, George Park
The "Black Breech Ordnance Company" and the "Adamantine Ship Company" would soon find representatives in Parliament, if forty or fifty members would get the national custom for their rubbish.
From The English Constitution by Bagehot, Walter
Adamantine Bouille's look alters not; yet the word Halt is given: gladder moment he never saw.
From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas
Adamantine clinkers, made of gault clay, are much used; they must have chamfered edges, otherwise they make too smooth a floor for a stable.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
