adamant
- utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion in spite of all appeals, urgings, etc.
- too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
- any impenetrably or unyieldingly hard substance.
- a legendary stone of impenetrable hardness, formerly sometimes identified with the diamond.
Origin of adamant
Synonyms
See more synonyms for adamant on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Examples from the Web for adamant
Contemporary Examples
Even the most adamant Obamacare opponent must acknowledge, as Kasich has, that its coverage expansion has helped some people.
They are also as adamant about the tone they want to strike.
Inside the Political Fun House: How ‘Alpha House’ Became Amazon’s First Big HitKevin Fallon
October 24, 2014
They are adamant that their women-only concerts are not a result of religious rules.
The Sisterhood of Bulletproof Stockings: It’s Ladies’ Night for Hasidic RockersEmily Shire
September 30, 2014
Despite all the visual cues which might suggest otherwise, Manning was adamant that he was not trying to promote himself.
Many of the survivors were adamant that the fighters were made up of foreign nationals from all over the world.
Historical Examples
Virtue is an adamant that is sacred and secure from all their efforts.
ImogenWilliam Godwin
Imogen was deaf to their expostulations, and indurate and callous as adamant to their persuasions.
ImogenWilliam Godwin
"Oh, do let's stay till it's all done," she urged, but Bruce and Elinor were adamant.
Miss Pat at SchoolPemberton Ginther
I begin to believe she is made of adamant instead of what other women are made of.
The Midnight QueenMay Agnes Fleming
A firm tread had Mother Scoville, a light hand with pastry, and a will that was adamant.
GigoloEdna Ferber
adamant
- unshakable in purpose, determination, or opinion; unyielding
- a less common word for adamantine (def. 1)
- any extremely hard or apparently unbreakable substance
- a legendary stone said to be impenetrable, often identified with the diamond or loadstone
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for adamant
adj.
late 14c., "hard, unbreakable," from adamant (n.). Figurative sense of "unshakeable" first recorded 1670s. Related: Adamantly; adamance.
n.
mid-14c., from Old French adamant and directly from Latin adamantem (nominative adamas) "adamant, hardest iron, steel," also figuratively, of character, from Greek adamas (genitive adamantos) "unbreakable, inflexible" metaphoric of anything unalterable, also the name of a hypothetical hardest material, perhaps literally "invincible," from a- "not" + daman "to conquer, to tame" (see tame (adj.)), or else a word of foreign origin altered to conform to Greek.
Applied in antiquity to white sapphire, magnet (perhaps via confusion with Latin adamare "to love passionately"), steel, emery stone, and especially diamond (see diamond). The word was in Old English as aðamans "a very hard stone."