OBDURATE

flinty, flint, granitic, obdurate, stony

(adjective) showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings; “his flinty gaze”; “the child’s misery would move even the most obdurate heart”

cussed, obdurate, obstinate, unrepentant

(adjective) stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

obdurate (comparative more obdurate, superlative most obdurate)

Stubbornly persistent, generally in wrongdoing; refusing to reform or repent.

(obsolete) Physically hardened, toughened.

Hardened against feeling; hard-hearted.

Synonyms

• (stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing): hardened, hard-hearted, impertinent, intractable, unrepentant, unyielding, recalcitrant

Verb

obdurate (third-person singular simple present obdurates, present participle obdurating, simple past and past participle obdurated)

(transitive, obsolete) To harden; to obdure.

Anagrams

• taboured

Source: Wiktionary


Ob"du*rate, a. Etym: [L. obduratus, p. p. of obdurare to harden; ob (see Ob-)+ durare to harden, durus hard. See Dure.]

1. Hardened in feelings, esp. against moral or mollifying influences; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubbornly wicked. The very custom of evil makes the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary. Hooker. Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth Shak.

2. Hard; harsh; rugged; rough; intractable. "Obdurate consonants." Swift.

Note: Sometimes accented on the second syllable, especially by the older poets. There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. Cowper.

Syn.

– Hard; firm; unbending; inflexible; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; impenitent; callous; unfeeling; insensible; unsusceptible.

– Obdurate, Callous, Hardened. Callous denotes a deadening of the sensibilities; as. a callous conscience. Hardened implies a general and settled disregard for the claims of interest, duty, and sympathy; as, hardened in vice. Obdurate implies an active resistance of the heart and will aganst the pleadings of compassion and humanity.

– Ob"du*rate*ly, adv.

– Ob"du*rate*ness, n.

Ob"du*rate, v. t.

Definition: To harden. [Obs.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

25 December 2024

UNAMBIGUOUS

(adjective) having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning; “As a horror, apartheid...is absolutely unambiguous”- Mario Vargas Llosa


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the largest iced coffee is 14,228.1 liters and was created by Caffé Bene (South Korea), in Yangju, South Korea, on 17 July 2014. They poured iced black Americano on the giant cup that measured 3.3 meters tall and 2.62 meters wide.

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