obstinate
adjective
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If you're obstinate, you're just plain stubborn. Obstinate, dogged, stubborn, and mulish all mean that someone is unwilling to change course or give up a belief or plan. Obstinate suggests an unreasonable persistence; it's often a negative word. Dogged implies that someone goes after something without ever tiring or quitting; it can be more positive. Stubborn indicates a resistance to change, which may or may not be admirable. Someone who displays a really unreasonable degree of stubbornness could accurately be described as mulish.
Synonyms
- adamant
- adamantine
- bullheaded
- dogged
- hard
- hardened
- hardheaded
- hard-nosed
- headstrong
- immovable
- implacable
- inconvincible
- inflexible
- intransigent
- mulish
- obdurate
- opinionated
- ossified
- pat
- pertinacious
- perverse
- pigheaded
- self-opinionated
- self-willed
- stiff-necked
- stubborn
- unbending
- uncompromising
- unrelenting
- unyielding
- willful
- wilful
Example Sentences
Matt Bai, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2001 With The New York Times calling Klein "a weak nominee" and editorializing that the administration should withdraw him, and with his opponents obstinate and apparently committed, he seemed for a moment to be in serious trouble. John Heilemann, Wired, November 2000 What did they know of life? All they knew was how to parrot the stock phrases of their profession and to continue to be obstinate until somebody, somewhere, paid up. Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, 1998 When my father finished telling the story, he looked at me, then looked away. A moment of silence lodged between us, an old and obstinate silence. Bernard Cooper, Harper's, August 1992 his obstinate refusal to obey My parents remain as obstinate as ever. See More Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 18 Nov. 2021 Sadly, many Western politicians and intellectuals remain obstinate. Alexander William Salter, National Review, 22 July 2021 There was nothing stopping the NCAA from working toward a compromise and avoid running afoul of this Supreme Court case; its decision to fight now looks obstinate and misguided. Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 21 June 2021 Ed remains obstinate, but the other guys keep them from coming to blows. Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 18 Nov. 2020 Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others. R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 27 May 2020 Zelenskiy and Ukraine may be facing a similarly sensitive and obstinate government to the one the country confronted over the 2014 incident. Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2020 Since the first cases here were diagnosed nearly five weeks ago, an obstinate equanimity has prevailed. Arthur Longworth, The New York Review of Books, 12 Apr. 2020 And the obstinate idiosyncrasies of his music were at times judged even more harshly. Seth Colter Walls, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2020 See More Word History
Middle English, from Anglo-French obstinat, Latin obstinatus, past participle of obstinare to be resolved, from ob- in the way + -stinare (akin to stare to stand)
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
obstinate
adjective
Medical Definition
obstinate
adjective
obstinate
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- stubborn
- adamant
- steadfast
- wilful
- hardened
- obdurate
- implacable
- intransigent
- willful
- unbending
- pertinacious
- headstrong
- unyielding
- mulish
- opinionated
- uncompromising
- obsessive
- inflexible
- pigheaded
- unrelenting
- hardheaded
- immovable
- persistent
- bullheaded
- dogged
- adamantine
- hard
- ossified
- pat
- perverse
- determined
- self-willed
- stiff-necked
- strict
- relentless
- hard-nosed
- inconvincible
- self-opinionated
- tenacious
- defiant
- stern
- iron
- severe
- unflinching
- resolved
- inexorable
- wayward
- rigid
- contumacious
- wrongheaded
- cantankerous
- uncooperative
- disobedient
- hidebound
- recalcitrant
- deaf to reason
- intractable
- refractory
- insubordinate
- unruly
- indomitable
- mutinous
- unmanageable
- unconquerable
- bloody-minded
- inveterate
- firm
- single-minded
- contrary
- invincible
- cussed
- stouthearted
- unregenerate
- froward
- ungovernable
- narrow-minded
- insurgent
- anal-retentive
- demanding
- hell-bent
- hard-shelled
- set
- hard-line
- confirmed
- exacting
- hard-shell
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- acquiescent
- agreeable
- docile
- obedient
- pliable
- amenable
- pliant
- complying
- flexible
- submissive
- compliant
- tractable
- yielding
- placable
- accepting
- relenting
- responsive
- receptive
- willing
- temperate
- reasonable
- persuadable
- slavish
- subservient
- manageable
- governable
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of obstinate are dogged, mulish, pertinacious, and stubborn. While all these words mean "fixed and unyielding in course or purpose," obstinate implies usually an unreasonable persistence.
The words dogged and obstinate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, dogged suggests an admirable often tenacious and unwavering persistence.
The synonyms mulish and obstinate are sometimes interchangeable, but mulish implies a thoroughly unreasonable obstinacy.
In some situations, the words pertinacious and obstinate are roughly equivalent. However, pertinacious suggests an annoying or irksome persistence.
The meanings of stubborn and obstinate largely overlap; however, stubborn implies sturdiness in resisting change which may or may not be admirable.