obdurate
Americanadjective
-
unmoved by persuasion, pity, or tender feelings; stubborn; unyielding.
- Synonyms:
- inflexible, unbending, callous, obstinate, hard
-
stubbornly resistant to moral influence; persistently impenitent.
an obdurate sinner.
- Synonyms:
- shameless, reprobate, unregenerate
adjective
-
not easily moved by feelings or supplication; hardhearted
-
impervious to persuasion, esp to moral persuasion
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of obdurate
1400–50; late Middle English obdurat < Latin obdūrātus (past participle of obdūrāre to harden), equivalent to ob- ob- + dūr ( us ) hard + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Obdurate is a formal word meaning stubborn. If you want to major in English, but your parents are obdurate that you should go premed, they might go so far as to threaten not to pay your tuition. This adjective descends from Latin obdurare, "to harden." A near synonym is adamant, from Latin adamas, "hard metal, diamond." So both of these synonyms derive from the quality of hardness being associated with a stubborn personality.
Vocabulary lists containing obdurate
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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.
The challenges of keeping an army fed and armed gradually imposed this insight on even the most obdurate members of the Continental Congress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
But it faces an obdurate, well-armed and angry enemy.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2024
During the New Deal, the most obdurate critics of Franklin Roosevelt’s policies were Democrats — Southern Democrats, to be sure, but his party members nonetheless — while among his most loyal supporters were liberal Republicans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2024
Admittedly, with that preeminence has come changes that even an obdurate critic like me must hail.
From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2023
They are anything but a phlegmatic people, yet they are obdurate, they are pertinacious, they finish plastering joints.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
