Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Made of or resembling adamant.
  • adjective Having the hardness or luster of a diamond.
  • adjective Unyielding; inflexible.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Made of adamant; having the qualities of adamant; impenetrable.
  • Resembling the diamond in hardness or in luster.
  • Corundum, from its hardness or peculiar occasional luster. See corundum.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Made of adamant, or having the qualities of adamant; incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated.
  • adjective (Min.) Like the diamond in hardness or luster.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Made of adamant, or having the qualities of adamant; incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; as, adamantine bonds or chains.
  • adjective Like the diamond in hardness or luster.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having the hardness of a diamond
  • adjective impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason
  • adjective consisting of or having the hardness of adamant

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin adamantinus.

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Examples

  • Maybe it's the word adamantine's magnetic lure and

    Culture Making 2009

  • AVING contributed to bring into notice the mineral fubftance from the EafUIndiesi which is generally called adamantine fpar, I beg leave to lay before the Royal Society tho following account of its hiftory and introdu£kion.

    A Journal of natural philosophy, chemistry, and the arts .. 1797

  • The word 'adamantine' is connected with the Greek adamas, meaning 'unconquerable.'

    The AOXOMOXOA song cycle David Dodd 2005

  • The lustre of this is the true "adamantine," or diamond, brilliancy, and the other and impure divisions of this particular lustre are: _splendent_, when objects are reflected perfectly, but of a lower scale of perfection than the true

    The Chemistry, Properties and Tests of Precious Stones John Mastin

  • In that crystal air, instinct with its delicate, dominant implication of things imponderable, the personality of each persisted undisturbed, in a kind of adamantine unconsciousness.

    Romance Island Zona Gale 1906

  • Here was stored almost every small article required by humanity, from an inflamed emery cushion to a peppermint Gibraltar -- the latter a kind of adamantine confectionery which, when I reflect upon it, raises in me the wonder that any

    An Old Town By the Sea Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1871

  • "adamantine" standard, which is absolutely flawless.

    The Chemistry, Properties and Tests of Precious Stones John Mastin

  • Even when, later still, the general's eager hand, stretching forth for the dusky flagon (it was sacrilege to sweep away those insignia of age and respectability), managed to capsize the candelabrum and sent the fluid "adamantine" spattering a treasured table-cloth (how quick the dash of the young trooper's hand upon the flame -- and its extinction!), a gentle smile was the sole rebuke, followed by a "Thank you, Mr. Harris.

    Tonio, Son of the Sierras A Story of the Apache War Charles King 1888

  • If you shoot Captain America at point blank (careful to get under his adamantine chainmail shirt), the bullet rends regular old, human flesh and bone, and he dies.

    Day in the Life of an Idiot lyda222 2010

  • It was nice, however, to see the iconic moment that Wolverine rises out of the adamantine injection tank and, you know, kicks ass.

    Day in the Life of an Idiot lyda222 2009

Comments

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  • "'No: to go to sea a man needs youth, an adamantine health, and the digestion of a hyena.'"

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 80

    February 13, 2008

  • The root word of Wolverines adamantium.

    February 14, 2008

  • "Carole had discovered in me, or more accurately in my writing . . ., a love of conflict, a fondness for rivalry both sexual and literary that pointed toward a vestigial tenderness and susceptibility to my ex-wife's adamantine charms."

    Julie Schumacher, Dear Committee Members

    October 10, 2015