Recalcitrant

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/

Definitions

1. Stubbornly resistant to authority, guidance, or discipline; refusing to cooperate or comply despite pressure or persuasion
2. Demonstrating a marked reluctance to submit to authority or rules, often characterized by a persistent refusal to obey or conform while remaining obstinate in one's behavior
3. Unwilling to follow rules or accept control and showing firm opposition to commands

Etymology: The image at the heart of "recalcitrant" is a horse. The Latin verb "recalcitrare" meant to kick back, especially a horse lashing out with its hind legs, and it was built from "re-", meaning back, and "calcitrare", to kick, which came from "calx", the heel. Literally, then, the word describes an animal that refuses to move forward by planting its heels against the rider or the reins. English borrowed the word through French "récalcitrant", and it arrived in the 1820s. By then the figurative sense of obstinate resistance to control was already the main one, so the horse survives mainly in the etymology rather than in everyday use. Anyone who hears the word today is hearing a metaphor about an animal that will not be led.

Synonyms: obstinate, defiant, uncooperative, stubborn, resistant

Antonyms: compliant, obedient, submissive, docile, yielding