contumacious

From Latin contumāx (“stubborn, obstinate”) +‎ -ious.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒn.tjʊˈmeɪ.ʃəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːn.tʊˈmeɪ.ʃəs/, /ˌkɑːn.tjəˈmeɪ.ʃəs/

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: con‧tu‧ma‧cious
• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

contumacious (comparative more contumacious, superlative most contumacious)

1. Contemptuous of authority; willfully disobedient; rebellious.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes”, in Henry John Todd, editor, The Poetical Works of John Milton, volume 4, published 1801, page 505:

     and, on his conſtancie, ſounds an accuſation to Herod of a contumacious affront, on ſuch a day, before many peers; præpares the king to ſome paſſion, and at laſt, by her daughter’s dancing, effects it.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IV, in The French Revolution: A History  In Three Volumes">…], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book V (Parliament First):

     In all places too are Dissident Priests; whom the Legislative will have to deal with: contumacious individuals, working on that angriest of passions; plotting, enlisting.

   • , H. L. Mencken, chapter 39, in The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 262:

     Its verbs are conjugated in a way that defies all the injunctions of the grammar books; it has its contumacious rules of tense, number and case; ]

2. (law) Willfully disobedient to the summons or orders of a court.

• (contemptuous of authority): disobedient, insubordinate, obstinate, perverse, rebellious, stubborn

• contumaciously
• contumaciousness
• contumacy
• contumely
• contumelious