recalcitrancy means recalcitrance. It carries an Arena rating of 1278, earned across 26 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, recalcitrancy ranks #1,098 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #2,323 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #3,916 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,075 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
Why “recalcitrancy” is a great word
RECALCITRANCY — [Noun] The state or quality of being stubbornly defiant or resistant to authority or control. Derived from the adjective 'recalcitrant', itself from Latin 'recalcitrant-', present participle stem of 'recalcitrare', meaning 'to kick back' (from 're-' (back) + 'calcitrare' (to kick), from 'calx' (heel)). First attested in English in 1844. Unlike obstinacy, which suggests a passive, dug-in adherence, or noncompliance, a simple refusal to conform, recalcitrancy is rebellion made animate: the mule that plants its hooves and lashes out; the rusted bolt that shears off rather than turn; the child whose silent, stiffened stance is a tectonic 'no.' It is the quiet, costly physics of a spirit refusing, at its core, to be shaped.
Etymology
In use since at least 1869 (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, published 1985).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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