different between obdurate vs headstrong

English

Etymology

Mid-15th century, from Latin obduratus (“hardened”), form of obd?r? (“harden”), from ob- (“against”) + d?r? (“harden, render hard”), from durus (“hard”). Compare durable, endure.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??bd????t/, /??bdj???t/, /??bd????t/, /-?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??bd(j)???t/, /??bd(j)???t/, /-?t/
• Sometimes accented on the second syllable, especially by the older poets.

Adjective

obdurate (comparative more obdurate, superlative most obdurate)

1. Stubbornly persistent, generally in wrongdoing; refusing to reform or repent.
   • 1593, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book I:

     ... sometimes the very custom of evil making the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary ...

   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act I, sc. 4:

     Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel,

     Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth?

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 56–8

     ... round he throws his baleful eyes

     That witness'd huge affliction and dismay

     Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:

   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley,"The Revolt of Islam", canto 4, stanza 9, lines 1486-7:

     But custom maketh blind and obdurate

     The loftiest hearts.
2. (obsolete) Physically hardened, toughened.
3. Hardened against feeling; hard-hearted.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 13:

     I fear the gentleman to whom Miss Amelia's letters were addressed was rather an obdurate critic.

Synonyms

• (stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing): hardened, hard-hearted, impertinent, intractable, unrepentant, unyielding, recalcitrant

Derived terms

• obduracy

Related terms

• durable, duration
• endure, endurance, enduring

Translations

Verb

obdurate (third-person singular simple present obdurates, present participle obdurating, simple past and past participle obdurated)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To harden; to obdure.

References

Anagrams

• taboured

Latin

Verb

obd?r?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of obd?r?

English

Etymology

From Middle English heedstrong, equivalent to head +? strong.

Pronunciation

Adjective

headstrong (comparative more headstrong, superlative most headstrong)

1. Determined to do as one pleases, and not as others want.

   He was in that headstrong teenage phase when he felt like he knew everything.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:obstinate

Derived terms

• headstrongly
• headstrongness

Translations