Definitions

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

  • adjective Obstinately disobedient or rebellious; insubordinate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Headstrong; insolent; hence, resisting legitimate authority, whether civil, ecclesiastical, military, or parental; stubbornly disobedient or rebellious: as, a contumacious child.
  • Specifically In law, wilfully disobedient to a lawful order of a judicial or legislative body, or showing wilful contempt of its authority.

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

  • adjective Exhibiting contumacy; contemning authority; obstinate; perverse; stubborn; disobedient.
  • adjective (Law) Willfully disobedient to the summons or orders of a court.

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

  • adjective Contemptuous of authority; willfully disobedient; rebellious.
  • adjective law Willfully disobedient to the summons or orders of a court.

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

  • adjective wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin contumāx ("stubborn, obstinate")

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Examples

  • Simply put, like whoever posted the diatribe "Traitors to Democracy, Traitors to America, Enemies of Democracy," you show your kinship to the Jacobins of the French Revolution; desirousness of murdering, oops, I should say liberating with extreme prejudice those who are "contumacious" of your socialist/fascist agenda.

    Wishing Limbaugh Dead except for the Sarah Factor 2009

  • She sighed especially over "contumacious"; it was so beautifully long.

    'Lizbeth of the Dale Mary Esther Miller MacGregor 1918

  • She was in the act of fixing up "contumacious," and making it a little more un-English if possible, when the poke awoke her to her surroundings.

    'Lizbeth of the Dale Mary Esther Miller MacGregor 1918

  • [FN#67] Márid (lit. "contumacious" from the Heb. root Marad to rebel, whence "Nimrod" in late Semitic) is one of the tribes of the Jinn, generally but not always hostile to man.

    Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855

  • I believe she was pronounced 'contumacious' by the

    The Pacha of Many Tales Frederick Marryat 1820

  • 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 David Hume 1743

  • By this I knew the hills were still mad, and deeply fissured, and that nesting within remained the contumacious hybrids.

    Perquampi Andrew Edwards 2011

  • For someone who has basked in the glory of being called a military hero for many years, McCain's contumacious behavior makes him so much less of a man than many of the LGBT troops who are currently serving their country.

    George Heymont: I Had a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Dream (And John McCain's Not Gonna Like It) George Heymont 2010

  • For someone who has basked in the glory of being called a military hero for many years, McCain's contumacious behavior makes him so much less of a man than many of the LGBT troops who are currently serving their country.

    George Heymont: I Had a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Dream (And John McCain's Not Gonna Like It) George Heymont 2010

  • For someone who has basked in the glory of being called a military hero for many years, McCain's contumacious behavior makes him so much less of a man than many of the LGBT troops who are currently serving their country.

    George Heymont: I Had a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Dream (And John McCain's Not Gonna Like It) George Heymont 2010

Comments

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  • "His Honour was, of course, firmly of the view that the appellant's mental state was such that she was capable of participating in the trial had she chosen to do so," he (Durward) said.

    "On this view, what is said to be the product of an unsoundness of mind can be seen to be the conduct of a contumacious litigant in defiance of the authority of the court.

    - David Barbeler, Bum-flashing lecturer's appeal dismissed, theage.com.au, 13 Oct 2009.

    October 13, 2009