Obdurate

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɒbdʒʊɹɪt/

Definitions

1. Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action despite persuasion or circumstances
2. Resistant to moral influence or redemption and persistently unyielding in maintaining one's chosen position
3. Hardened against appeals to conscience and immovable in refusing to alter beliefs or behavior regardless of external pressure

Etymology: Obdurate began as a physical description: something made hard. Its Latin ancestor, "obdūrātus," was the past participle of "obdūrō," meaning "to harden," built from "ob-" ("against") and "dūrō" ("to harden"), which comes from "dūrus," meaning "hard." The same root gives English "durable" and "endure," so the word is related to ideas of lasting firmness. English took it in the 1450s, during the Middle English period, through the form "obdurat," which was later spelled "obdurate." The earlier sense was about hardness of heart or material, and the move from solid objects to a stubborn mind is what gives the modern meaning of refusing to yield or change.

Synonyms: stubborn, unyielding, inflexible, hard-hearted, adamant

Antonyms: yielding, flexible, submissive