obstinate

Etymology

From Latin obstinātus, past participle of obstinō (“set one's mind firmly upon, resolve”), from ob (“before”) + *stinare, from stare (“to stand”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒb.stɪ.nət/, /ˈɒb.stɪ.nɪt/
• (US) enPR: äb'stənət, IPA^(key): /ˈɑb.stə.nət/, /ˈɑb.stə.nɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation (US): ob‧sti‧nate

Adjective

obstinate (comparative more obstinate, superlative most obstinate)

1. Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.
   • 1686, Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, "That men are justly punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort that is not in reason to be defended",

     From this consideration it is that we have derived the custom, in times of war, to punish […] those who are obstinate to defend a place that by the rules of war is not tenable […]

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 21:

     […] the junior Osborne was quite as obstinate as the senior: when he wanted a thing, quite as firm in his resolution to get it; and quite as violent when angered, as his father in his most stern moments

2. Said of inanimate things not easily subdued or removed.
   • 1927, Gandhi, translated by Mahadev Desai, An Autobiography or The Story of my Experiments with Truth, Part IV, Chapter XXIX,

     Now it happened that Kasturbai […] had again begun getting haemorrhage, and the malady seemed to be obstinate.

Further reading

• obstinate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• obstinate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• obstinate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• obestatin, obtainest

Adjective

obstināte

1. vocative masculine singular of obstinātus

References

• obstinate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• obstinate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• obstinate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette