Definition of obdurate in English:

adjective

• Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action.

  ‘I argued this point with him, but he was obdurate’

  More example sentences

  • ‘This was Australia at their obdurate best, probing for every run and every sign of weakness, inching towards respectability and a dangerously competitive total on a pitch of uneven bounce.’
  • ‘But for all his reputation as a pragmatist, there's a steely and obdurate side to him that comes to the surface every so often.’
  • ‘That will be grist to McGeechan's mill after an afternoon in which his side struggled to wear down obdurate but limited opponents.’
  • ‘The Egyptian polity, remarkably obdurate for the past quarter of a century and deeply rooted in authoritarian structures established more than 50 years ago, is apparently coming apart at the seams.’
  • ‘But with Liverpool likely to field a weakened team to face an obdurate Burnley side buoyed by back-to-back wins and clean sheets, it may not be such a foregone conclusion.’
  • ‘They are, after all, award-winning teachers, however obdurate a pupil the federal government is proving.’
  • ‘Its best to get in reasonably early as it can be fiendishly difficult to get into, and the doorstaff can be unyielding and obdurate, despite your silver-tongued attempts to gain access.’
  • ‘There is no doubting their commitment, however, and they will continue to offer obdurate opposition for the rest of the challengers.’
  • ‘As decreed by what was called the Holy Office at that time, the dwellers in Hell included those it had condemned for obdurate heresy.’
  • ‘No one but the most obdurate can fail to acknowledge that the main political problem that has convulsed this beautiful State is still a long way from being resolved.’
  • ‘Meanwhile, time alone probably will not have unevolved the obdurate and ancient instinct that all humans bear.’
  • ‘The husband looked up from poking the washing machine with his screwdriver to suggest I was being obdurate.’
  • ‘One Cape Town newspaper headline screamed: ‘Just say yes, Mr President’ but Mbeki remained obdurate.’
  • ‘His image as an obdurate hardman culminated in the notorious case where he bit reporter Frank Oliver's nose.’
  • ‘Two minutes into second half the visitors' obdurate defence finally cracked, for the first time in 280 minutes.’
  • ‘Those fields didn't miraculously appear there - they were lovingly hewn from the obdurate landscape by men like Willie Corduff and his ancestors.’
  • ‘But I think it saddened him to see people obdurate, unwilling to let go of doctrinaire positions instead of facing issues on their merits.’
  • ‘I perhaps sound like an obdurate woman lacking the maternal instincts worthy of such a precious gift as a child but nothing could be further from the truth.’
  • ‘In favouring the obdurate option, United cramped Celtic for room and impressively limited their effectiveness.’
  • ‘Over the next few weeks, Rosemary discovered that several other people had planned to open small shops in Camembert, only to give up after encountering obdurate bureaucracy.’

  Synonyms

  obstinate, stubborn as a mule, mulish, headstrong, wilful, strong-willed, self-willed, pig-headed, bull-headed, awkward, difficult, contrary, perverse, recalcitrant, refractory

  stubborn, obstinate, unyielding, unbending, inflexible, intransigent, implacable, pig-headed, bull-headed, mulish, stiff-necked, headstrong, wilful, unshakeable, unmalleable, intractable, unpersuadable, unrelenting, relentless, immovable, inexorable, uncompromising, hard, stony, iron, iron-willed, adamant, firm, fixed, determined

  View synonyms