obstinate

English

Alternative forms

• obstinant (proscribed)

Etymology

From Middle English obstinate, obstinat, from Latin obstinātus, past participle of obstinō (“set one's mind firmly upon, resolve”), from ob (“before”) + *stinare, from stare (“to stand”). Doublet of ostinato.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒb.stɪ.nət/, /ˈɒb.stɪ.nɪt/
• (US) enPR: äb'stənət, IPA^(key): /ˈɑb.stə.nət/, /ˈɑb.stə.nɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation (US): ob‧sti‧nate

Adjective

obstinate (comparative more obstinate, superlative most obstinate)

1. Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.
   • 1686, Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, That men are justly punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort that is not in reason to be defended:

     From this consideration it is that we have derived the custom, in times of war, to punish […] those who are obstinate to defend a place that by the rules of war is not tenable […]

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 21, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC:

     […] the junior Osborne was quite as obstinate as the senior: when he wanted a thing, quite as firm in his resolution to get it; and quite as violent when angered, as his father in his most stern moments

2. (of inanimate things) Not easily subdued or removed.
   • 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part IV, Chapter XXIX,

     Now it happened that Kasturbai had again begun getting haemorrhage, and the malady seemed to be obstinate.

3. (of a facial feature) Typical of an obstinate person; fixed and unmoving.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     He had the same pile of curly hair, but he was clean-shaven with a heavy, obstinate jowl.

Synonyms

• (stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course): bloody-minded, persistent, stubborn, pertinacious, see also Thesaurus:obstinate
• (not easily subdued): persistent, unrelenting, inexorable

Derived terms

• obstinacy
• obstinately
• obstinateness

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• “obstinate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “obstinate”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “obstinate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• obestatin, obtainest

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ob.stiˈnaː.teː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ob.stiˈna.te/,

Adverb

obstinātē (comparative obstinātius, superlative obstinātissimē)

1. firmly, inflexibly, resolutely, obstinately

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ob.stiˈnaː.te/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ob.stiˈna.te/,

Participle

obstināte

1. vocative masculine singular of obstinātus

References

• “obstinate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “obstinate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• obstinate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Verb

obstinate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of obstinar combined with te