obdurate

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɑbdərət/ UK /ˈɒbdjʊrət/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
stubbornly unyielding or hardened against persuasion or moral influence

The judge remained obdurate despite the family's tearful appeals for mercy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · stubbornly unyielding or... stubborn unyielding obstinate inflexible intractable adamanthardened

Opposites

yielding compliant tractable tender relenting

Word family

Derived forms obduracyobduratelyobdurateness

Related forms endure durable duress

Simplified etymology

Obdurate entered English in the late Middle Ages from the same Latin root as durable: durare, “to last” or “to harden.”

Etymology

From Latin obduratus, past participle of obdurare ('to harden'), from ob- ('against') plus durare ('to harden'), from durus ('hard').

obdurare Latin durus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# obdurate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɑbdərət/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɒbdjʊrət/

## Meanings
1. stubbornly unyielding or hardened against persuasion or moral influence

## Examples
- The judge remained obdurate despite the family's tearful appeals for mercy.

## Synonyms
- stubborn
- unyielding
- obstinate
- inflexible
- intractable
- adamant
- hardened

## Antonyms
- yielding
- compliant
- tractable
- tender
- relenting

## Derived Forms
- obduracy
- obdurately
- obdurateness

## Related Forms
- endure
- durable
- duress

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: obdurare
- Root: durus

## Etymology
From Latin obduratus, past participle of obdurare ('to harden'), from ob- ('against') plus durare ('to harden'), from durus ('hard').

## AI Etymology
Obdurate is from Latin obduratus, past participle of obdurare ('to harden'), from ob- ('against') plus durare ('to harden'), from durus ('hard'). Important recorded forms include obdurare (Latin) and durus (Latin). The modern sense follows that older lexical line closely. In current use it covers stubbornly unyielding or hardened against persuasion or moral influence. The wider family includes derived forms such as obduracy, obdurately, and obdurateness and related words such as endure, durable, and duress.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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