Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Marked by stubborn resistance to and defiance of authority or guidance. See Synonyms at unruly.
- n. A recalcitrant person.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Refusing to submit; exhibiting repugnance or opposition; not submissive or compliant; refractory.
Wiktionary
- adj. Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority.
- adj. Unwilling to cooperate socially.
- adj. Difficult to deal with or to operate.
- n. A person who is recalcitrant.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Kicking back; recalcitrating; hence, showing repugnance or opposition; refractory.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. marked by stubborn resistance to authority
- adj. stubbornly resistant to authority or control
Etymologies
- From Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre ("be disobedient"). (Wiktionary)
- Late Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrant-, present participle of recalcitrāre, to be disobedient, from Latin, to deny access : re-, re- + calcitrāre, to kick (from calx, calc-, heel). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term "recalcitrant" reminds me of a time when the Australian Prim Minister Paul Keating referred to Malasia's Prim Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad as recalcitrant.”
“But one theme that Chávez wove through the entire interview was the resurgence of the "transnational Right" -- or what he calls the recalcitrant right.”
Greg Grandin: Hugo Chavez on Obama and the 'Recalcitrant Right'
“Is there, or is there not, a brassbound plot to lead a chthonic jihad against those who oppose Mr. Livingston, organized through the years by what I call recalcitrant bludgers?”
“GOP is a good party, but some of its candidates have earned the distinction of bein 'recalcitrant and intractable, when it comes to managin' worldly affairs, as observed by us recently.”
“Angus called his recalcitrant attention back to order.”
“Citicorp, were once known as recalcitrant supporters of South”
“The recalcitrant are a minority in all these things.”
“It was thus that he posed before his council when, finding unexpected opposition, he undertook to impose his will upon them, and recall the recalcitrant members to their duty.”
“One spending sinkhole can be traced to large medical-equipment suppliers, device makers, and pharmaceutical companies, which government auditors and industry veterans describe as a recalcitrant bunch.”
“One former Bay Area police officer, speaking anonymously, referred to the OPD as "recalcitrant," when it comes to accepting criticism and making change.”
Breaking the Wall of Silence: Civilian Oversight of Police in Oakland
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘recalcitrant’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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Used
halcyon, ineluctable, inspissated, incarnadine, askance, demur, saltation, requisite, effusive, specious, liminality, indomitable and 114 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Recently Loved Words
Valentine's Day is coming up, so here's a list of words that have been "loved" here on Wordnik (our favorite site with a heart as part of its logo).
howl, lichenous, uncomplicated, siliceous, clatter, hubris, dervish, articulated, acerbic, Recently Loved Words, mellifluous, anomaly and 45 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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Remember Not To Forget
Sephardic, Umwelt, amphiboly, untrammeled, sequela, pandiculation, tensegrity, syncretism, pugilism, shemagh, disquisition, perspicacity and 65 more...
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GRE Passage Words
admonish, ephemeral, ambivalence, antipathy, antithetical, countenance, deride, eclectic, enigma, ethos, expediency, impinge and 15 more...
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GRE Practice
coruscate, preternatural, preclude, retrench, perfidy, sophistry, sedulous, martinet, churlish, dissembler, prevarication, impugn and 38 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1852 more...
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MyList
peter out, fraying, jump on the bandw..., indignation, eclectic, hung up, salutary, hoary, warped, glaring, blue-collar, concomitant and 105 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for recalcitrant.
super-labmaven "Words are as recalcitrant as circus animals, and the unskilled trainer can crack his whip at them in vain."
- Gerald Brenan Oct 25, 2009
super-logos The bears have been recalcitrant this summer. Aug 18, 2008
milosrdenstvi Useful to describe children. "Ma'am, I'm afraid your child has been quite recalcitrant." Aug 18, 2008
marc ...By last week, this peculiar state of mind had not only sucked thousands of American oil wells dry, stripped the rubber groves of Malaya, produced the world's most inhuman industry and its most recalcitrant labor union, but had filled U.S. streets with so many automobiles that it was almost impossible to drive one...
The Last Traffic Jam, Time Magazine, December 15, 1947 Jun 7, 2008
cranewang ree-KAL-see-trent May 5, 2008
kewpid No, Mahathir Mohammed. Dec 13, 2007
bilby Paul Keating. Dec 13, 2007