intransigence
/ɪnˈtɹæn.sɪ.d͡ʒəns/
intransigence means unwillingness to change one's views or to agree. It carries an Arena rating of 1679, earned across 62 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, intransigence ranks #754 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #821 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,559 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,048 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
intransigence is pronounced /ɪnˈtɹæn.sɪ.d͡ʒəns/.
Why “intransigence” is a great word
INTRANSIGENCE — [Noun] A steadfast, principled refusal to compromise, especially in matters of politics or ideology. From French *intransigeance*, from *intransigeant*, borrowed from Spanish *intransigente* ("uncompromising"), itself from Latin *in-* ("not") + *transigere* ("to come to an understanding, to compromise") + *-ant* (adjective suffix). First attested in English in 1874. Unlike "stubbornness," which suggests a personal, often mulish obstinacy, or "flexibility," which denotes adaptive yielding, intransigence is the declared war against concession. It is the diplomat who folds his arms and stares past the negotiating table, the treaty drafted in indelible ink, and the ancient monument that weathers all storms but never yields an inch—a lonely conviction proving that the strongest principles often build the highest walls.
Etymology
From French intransigeance, noun form of intransigeant, borrowed from Spanish intransigente at the end of the nineteenth century. Morphologically, from in- + transiger + -ant, literally "uncompromising".
noun
- Unwillingness to change one's views or to agree.e.g.“Near-synonyms: stubbornness, immovableness, intransigentism”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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