diehard

C2+ Topic:Cause, Change & Process

US /ˈdaɪˌhɑrd/ UK /ˈdaɪhɑːd/ See IPA manual

noun adj

Meanings

1

noun
a person who stubbornly resists change or clings to a cause

A few diehards refused to abandon the old methods.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who stubbornly... stalwart reactionary conservative intransigent uncompromising stubborn loyalist

Opposites

progressive liberal moderatereformist

Word family

Related forms die hard

Etymology

A 19th-century English compound of the verb die and the adverb hard ('with difficulty'), originally meaning one who 'dies hard,' resisting to the last; die is from Old Norse deyja and hard from Old English heard.

deyja Old Norse heard Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Cause, Change & Process

# diehard

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** ˈdaɪˌhɑrd
**IPA (UK):** ˈdaɪhɑːd

## Meanings
1. a person who stubbornly resists change or clings to a cause

## Examples
- A few diehards refused to abandon the old methods.

## Synonyms
- stalwart
- reactionary
- conservative
- intransigent
- uncompromising
- stubborn
- loyalist

## Antonyms
- progressive
- liberal
- moderate
- reformist

## Related Forms
- die
- hard

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: deyja
- Root: heard

## Etymology
A 19th-century English compound of the verb die and the adverb hard ('with difficulty'), originally meaning one who 'dies hard,' resisting to the last; die is from Old Norse deyja and hard from Old English heard.

## AI Etymology
Diehard has this etymological history: A 19th-century English compound of the verb die and the adverb hard ('with difficulty'), originally meaning one who 'dies hard,' resisting to the last; die is from Old Norse deyja and hard from Old English heard. The etymological trail includes Old Norse deyja and Old English heard. As a noun, diehard names a person who stubbornly resists change or clings to a cause. The same family is visible in related forms such as die and hard. The analysis is partly morphological, with the modern form built from the elements named in the history.

## Topics
- Cause, Change & Process

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diehard

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