recusant

[ rek-yuh-zuhnt, ri-kyoo-zuhnt ]

adjective

1. refusing to submit, comply, etc.
2. obstinate in refusal.
3. English History. refusing to attend services of the Church of England.

noun

1. a person who is recusant.
2. English History. a person, especially a Roman Catholic, who refused to attend the services of the Church of England.

recusant

/ ˈrɛkjʊzənt /

noun

1. (in 16th to 18th century England) a Roman Catholic who did not attend the services of the Church of England, as was required by law
2. any person who refuses to submit to authority

adjective

1. (formerly, of Catholics) refusing to attend services of the Church of England
2. refusing to submit to authority

Derived Forms

• ˈrecusance, noun

Other Words From

• unrecu·sant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of recusant¹

1545–55; < Latin recūsant- (stem of recūsāns ), present participle of recusāre to demur, object, equivalent to re- re- + -cūsāre, verbal derivative of causa cause; -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of recusant¹

C16: from Latin recūsāns refusing, from recūsāre from re- + causārī to dispute, from causa a cause

Example Sentences

The recusant States must be whipped back into submission to the autocrats that would direct their affairs.

From Project Gutenberg

When recovered the second time, he was whipped as well as fed—another lesson which only made the stubborn recusant run the faster.

From Project Gutenberg

The recusant was one Walter Simpson, the Vulcan of the parish.

From Project Gutenberg

He was summoned to the bar of the House as a Popish recusant.

From Project Gutenberg

Uledi returned from his expedition against a recusant officer at Kituntu, bringing with him a spoil of ten women.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• adverse
• antithetical
• conflicting
• contradictory
• discordant
• hostile
• inconsistent
• inimical
• negative
• opposed
• paradoxical
• wrongheaded