adamant
Americanadjective
-
utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion in spite of all appeals, urgings, etc.
- Synonyms:
- uncompromising, rigid, inflexible
-
too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
noun
-
any impenetrably or unyieldingly hard substance.
-
a legendary stone of impenetrable hardness, formerly sometimes identified with the diamond.
adjective
-
unshakable in purpose, determination, or opinion; unyielding
-
a less common word for adamantine
noun
-
any extremely hard or apparently unbreakable substance
-
a legendary stone said to be impenetrable, often identified with the diamond or loadstone
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing adamant
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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List 2
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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.
Savage is adamant about keeping security focused on serving trans patrons, describing the difficult experience of being harassed by security guards at other clubs if the gender on your ID doesn’t match how you present.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
The match had been badly affected by rain, but Cronje was adamant the teams should do all they could to ensure it did not end in a draw.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
My brother-in-law, however, was adamant that he did not want to sell the house to us.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
Bonta was adamant that a settlement would require structural changes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Mr. Quisling had been adamant that Emily give up the book, that it was returned to Mr. Remora ASAP.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
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.
