Adamant

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈæd.ə.mənt/

Definitions

1. Refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind ; a material known for its exceptional hardness or impenetrability
2. Firmly resolved and not willing to compromise ; a substance believed to be unbreakably hard or resistant
3. Showing unwavering determination and stubbornness ; a very hard or indestructible substance often used metaphorically

Etymology: The Greek "adamas" originally named the hardest substance anyone knew, and it was a word that could be applied to anything that could not be broken or bent. Its root sense was "unconquerable," built from the Greek prefix "a-" meaning "not" and "damaein," "to tame or subdue." The same word gave us "diamond," which reached English through Old French as a later, sound-shifted form. The two words are doublets, meaning they split from one ancestor and arrived by different routes. "Adamant" came into English in Middle English through Latin "adamant-," the form Latin used for the Greek word. For a long time it kept its noun sense, a legendary stone so hard that nothing could break it, and only later did it come to describe a person who refuses to yield. The adjective meaning "firm and unchanging" grew naturally from that picture of unbreakable hardness, so a person who is adamant is as immovable as the stone that gave the word its name.

Synonyms: unyielding, firm, resolute, inflexible, determined

Antonyms: flexible, yielding, compliant