contumacious
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- adjective Obstinately disobedient or rebellious; insubordinate.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- adjective Headstrong; insolent; hence, resisting legitimate authority, whether civil, ecclesiastical, military, or parental; stubbornly disobedient or rebellious: as, a contumacious child.
- adjective Specifically In law, wilfully disobedient to a lawful order of a judicial or legislative body, or showing wilful contempt of its authority.
Examples
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The near neighborhood of the place was chosen, in order to deprive her of all plea of ignorance; and as she made no answer to the citation, either by herself or proxy, she was declared "contumacious;" and the primate proceeded to the examination of the cause.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. From Henry VII. to Mary
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If any one shall have shown himself so contumacious or haughty as to leave the army and return home without the command or permission of the king, - that is, if he is guilty of what we call in the German language herisliz, - he himself, as a criminal, shall incur the peril of losing his life, and his property shall be confiscated for our treasury.
De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History » Charlemagne’s way of raising troops
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He immediately summoned three of his officers to his presence, Adalgis, the chamberlain, Gailo, the count of the stables, and Worad, the count of the palace, and ordered then to act with all possible dispatch, taking eastern Franks and Saxons with them, to repress the temerity of the contumacious Slavs.
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The wine they pronounced excellent; some two of three even drank their glass out, to make their words good; and they all offered, if not with lives and fortunes, at least with hands and feet, to support the ban of the house against the contumacious Englishman.
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Hard labor for life had been the sentence pronounced against the escaped and contumacious accomplices.
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Some jurisconsults, indeed, have wisely held that the contumacious person ought not to be condemned unless the crime were clearly established; but other lawyers have been of a contrary opinion: they have boldly affirmed that the flight of the accused was a proof of the crime; that the contempt which he showed for justice, by refusing to appear, merited the same chastisement as would have followed his conviction.
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Their so-called queen, illegitimate, excommunicate, contumacious, the abettor of free-trade, the defender of the Netherlands, the pillar of false doctrine throughout Europe, should be sent in chains across the Alps, to sue for her life at the feet of the injured and long-suffering father of mankind, while his nominee took her place upon the throne which she had long since forfeited by her heresy.
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Congress can itself prosecute the contumacious officials to coerce them to comply — a power that the Supreme Court has affirmed.
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But if I were to be contumacious, I might thank myself for all that would follow.
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Throughout the whole evening he could not be got for a moment to join any of the club juntas which were discussing the great difficulty of the contumacious gentleman.
Note
The word 'contumacious' comes from a Latin word meaning 'obstinate, stubborn'.
