obdurate means stubbornly persistent, generally in wrongdoing; refusing to reform or repent. It carries an Arena rating of 1875, earned across 14 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, obdurate ranks #340 of 42,749 for Qualifying, #1,779 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,912 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,214 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
obdurate is pronounced /ˈɒbdʒʊɹɪt/.
Why “obdurate” is a great word
Stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing or resistant to moral influence; hardened in feelings or attitude. From the Latin ob- ("against") and dūrus ("hard"), via obdūrāre ("to harden") and its participle obdūrātus ("hardened"), first attested in Middle English in the 1450s. Unlike "adamant," which suggests an immovable firmness often on principle, or "intractable," which denotes a broader difficulty to manage, obdurate implies a willful, moral calcification. It is the unblinking stare of a tyrant deaf to mercy, the silence that meets a penitent's plea, or the cold stone of a heart that has long since chosen its own desolation—a final, active refusal of grace.
Etymology
First attested in the 1450s, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English obdurat(e), borrowed from Latin obdūrātus (“hardened”), perfect passive participle of obdūrō (“to harden”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ob- (“against”) + dūrō (“to harden, render hard”), from dūrus (“hard”). Compare durable, endure.
adj
- Stubbornly persistent, generally in wrongdoing; refusing to reform or repent.e.g.“[…] sometimes the very custom of evil making the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary […]” — [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
- Physically hardened, toughened.e.g.“The past is obdurate for the same reason a turtle's shell is obdurate: because the living flesh inside is tender and defenseless.” — 2011, Stephen King, 11/22/63, New York: Scribner, →ISBN, page 827:
- Hardened against feeling; hard-hearted.e.g.“I fear the gentleman to whom Miss Amelia's letters were addressed was rather an obdurate critic.” — 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 13, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
verb
- To harden; to obdure.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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