Obdurately

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a fashion marked by unyielding stubbornness against influences or arguments By exhibiting an unrelenting attitude that resists any attempt at change Behaving with a calculated firmness that rejects persuasion or alteration
2. In a manner showing stubborn resistance to change or persuasion
3. Displaying a fixed and unshakeable attitude that refuses to yield

Etymology: Obdurately is a plain formation: the adjective "obdurate" with the suffix "-ly" added to turn it into an adverb. The adjective itself comes from Latin "obdurare", meaning "to harden", built from "ob-" (against, toward) and "durare" (to last or endure), the same root that gives "durable" and "during". So the word is literally "in a hardened manner." The suffix has a long pedigree of its own. "-ly" descends from Old English "-līce", which was derived from the noun "līc" (body, form, or appearance), so an older sense of "-ly" was something like "in the form of" or "in the manner of." That's why a word like "obdurately" carries the sense of acting as if one has been hardened in one's ways. The ending traces back through Proto-Germanic to a root meaning "body," and passed through Middle English before settling into its modern shape.

Synonyms: stubbornly, unyieldingly, inflexibly, adamantly, persistently

Antonyms: flexibly, softly, gently, easily, yieldingly