contumacious

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   stubbornly or defiantly disobedient to authority

   The contumacious prisoner refused every lawful instruction from the guards.

2. 2
   adj

   law: willfully disobeying a court order or summons

   The judge found the witness contumacious after a third refusal to testify.

From Latin contumax, 'stubborn or insolent,' through the related noun contumacy and the adjective-forming suffix -ious. Its formal legal use preserves the idea of deliberate resistance to legitimate authority.

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