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
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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.
Freya Dunbar-Sims, 19, is the inclusion officer for the society and is adamant as to why membership has increased.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
“One thing that we’ve really been adamant about is getting the schemes that the coaches put us in and adhering to those schemes,” Nneka Ogwumike said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
He’s also adamant that Apple’s architecture, with on-device models handling lighter workloads and its private cloud taking on the larger ones, makes it unique.
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
Though there’s something a little peculiar, in an age of digital verisimilitude, about watching a big-budget movie character scoot around like a Muppet, Favreau was adamant about showcasing the handiwork.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Smith was adamant that Pollard was the man for the job.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
