Obdurance

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The characteristic of remaining firmly committed to one's beliefs without yielding to external influences or pressures
2. The quality of holding firm in convictions despite challenges or pressure
3. The act of refusing to change one's position even when urged to do so

Etymology: The core of this word is physical hardness. It comes from Latin "obdurare," meaning "to harden," built from "ob-" (here meaning "against" or "over") and "durare," "to last or endure." That second element is the same root that gives English "durable" and "endure," and it traces back to "durus," "hard." So the abstract sense of stubbornness began as a description of something made hard, like iron or stone. The move from hardness to unyielding character happened early in Latin. Writers spoke of a hardened heart, and this figurative use carried into the Latin Bible, where it describes Pharaoh's heart being hardened against God's commands. English "obdurate" inherited that sense of a mind or heart that refuses to soften. "Obdurance" is a later English noun formed from "obdurate" with the suffix "-ance," which turns an adjective of quality into a noun for that quality.