Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Unreasonably, often perversely unyielding; bullheaded.
- adj. Firmly resolved or determined; resolute. See Synonyms at obstinate.
- adj. Characterized by perseverance; persistent.
- adj. Difficult to treat or deal with; resistant to treatment or effort: stubborn soil; stubborn stains.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Sturdy; stout; strong.
- Fixed or set in opinion or purpose; obstinately determined; inflexibly resolute; not to be moved by persuasion; unyielding.
- Persistently obdurate; obtuse to reason or right; obstinately perverse. [This sense depends upon the connection, and is not always clearly distinguishable from the preceding, since what is justifiable or natural persistence from one point of view may be sheer perversity from another.]
- Persistently pursued or practised; obstinately maintained; not readily abandoned or relinquished.
- Difficult of treatment or management; hard to deal with or handle; not easily manipulated; refractory; tough; unyielding; stiff.
- Harsh; rough; rude; coarse in texture or quality.
- Synonyms and Refractory, Intractable, etc. (see obstinate); wilful, headstrong, unruly, inflexible, obdurate, ungovernable, indocile, mulish.
- To make stubborn; render stiff, unyielding, enduring, or the like.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Firm as a stub or stump; stiff; unbending; unyielding; persistent; hence, unreasonably obstinate in will or opinion; not yielding to reason or persuasion; refractory; harsh; -- said of persons and things
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not responding to treatment
- adj. tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield
Etymologies
- From Middle English stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn; probable origin *stybor, *stibor, apparently from Old English styb ("a stump, stub") + adj. formative -or as in Old English bitor, English bitter. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English stuborn. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In brackets Alesandra had written the word stubborn.”
“Mayor Bloomberg for failing to have the will to end discrimination in the FDNY, which he termed a "stubborn bastion of white male privilege.”
“I have to be committed and remain stubborn to only fish for giant bass of the hugest proportions.”
“AppRemover is a free application that specialises in stubborn, clingy security applications.”
AppRemover Removes Stubborn Security Applications | Lifehacker Australia
“You think being stubborn is the same as being right.”
“Are the Republicans just plain stubborn or do they worry that the Dems might just prevail.”
“They stood by in stubborn refusal as Honda and Toyota developed and then sold hybrid cars, and as both Japanese and European auto makers have prototyped and now prepare to sell electric cars.”
“Honey, stubborn is not the same as forward-thinking. 6 out of 6 fashion-forward thinkers agree: a vest simply is not a cardigan.”
“We have followed all of the rules, so to take the nomination from him because some want to be stubborn is out of line.”
“Well THIS explains things! thought I, remembering a certain stubborn someone in my immediate entourage.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘stubborn’.
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
Athenian, Socratic, philosopher, dialogue, philosophy, philosophical, politic, stubborn, bright, smart, thoughtful, extrapolate and 243 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
abusive, adamant, autocratic, bossy, bullheaded, bumptious, certain, cock-a-hoop, cocksure, cocky, commanding, compelling and 189 more...
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Phonestheme: ST-, the Defender
Grateful credit to http://reocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9783/phond1.html.
staunch, steadfast, stolid, strong, stay, steel, stiff, stubborn, stuffy, stable, stalwart, steady and 11 more...
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unyielding
refractory, unmanageable, ungovernable, obstinate, contumacious, stubborn, unyielding, unruly, perverse, refractoriness, inanimates, contrary and 12 more...
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RBC: Adjectives for Henry's Ma
Our class list of adjectives for Henry's Ma.
determined, cautious, disappointed, uncertain, wise, stubborn, passionate, unsupportive, forgiving, firm, honest, dishonest and 36 more...
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A whooshing of turpentine up my nostrils
Descriptors to use at your next wine-tasting
sawdusty, barnyardy, igneous, graphitic, impolitic, noisome, eldritch, lovecraftian, beanfeastish, spidery, impious, daft and 63 more...
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Red
Words that describe the color red.
quick, adventurous, secretive, charismatic, bold, feirce, crisp, poignant, symbolic, misunderstood, understanding, surreptitious and 10 more...
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The Medley of Me
A jumble of words, sometimes contradictory, that add up to me. I'll probably be adding to this list for some time, because I'm a very complex individual. ;P
male, long-haired, big-eyed, writer, artist, guitarist, songsmith, talespinner, pilot, wannabe barnstormer, gypsy, cuddlesome and 209 more...
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GCI
spinster, maiden, happy-go-lucky, homonym, ill-at-ease, saw red, out of sorts, hot under the collar, taken aback, pen-names, alias, shoelaces and 378 more...
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Mr. Prolagus is surprised
Words - or different usages of words I already knew - that I am learning thanks to Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.
See also ofravens' with thanks to Anne Shirley.alder, decorum, ferret, dint, wont, gauntlet, turnip, sorrel, deft, embower, scant, peck and 92 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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feeling words
twitterpated, loquacious, ambiguous, pensive, sluggish, anxious, adventurous, curious, abandoned, absent-minded, abrasive, abused and 653 more...
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Idk, I like these words.
ethereality, apathy, consideration, soul, safety, lone wolf, darkness, pressure, ocean, few, collapse, believe and 155 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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MIX DES CULTURES
french words & english ones
des mots français & d'autres anglaisà gogo, tchétchène, faciès, déviant, gamin, superette, grigri, diantre, in jeopardy, syncope, primrose, menthe and 92 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for stubborn.
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