different between obstinacy vs obstinate

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??bst?n?si/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??bst?n?si/

Etymology

obstinate +? -cy

Alternative forms

• (proscribed) obstinance, obstinancy

Noun

obstinacy (countable and uncountable, plural obstinacies)

1. The state, or an act, of stubbornness or doggedness.

   He finished only through a mixture of determined obstinacy and ingenuity.

   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. 44,

     "I don't know where," replied the girl.

     "Then I do," said Sikes, more in the spirit of obstinacy than because he had any real objection.

   • 1877, Leo Tolstoy (author), David Magarshack (translator), Anna Karenina, part 6, ch 12,

     His hand closed, he drew back, and his face assumed a still more stubborn expression.

     "For you it's a matter of obstinacy," she said, looking intently at him and suddenly finding the right word for the expression of his face which exasperated her so much.

Synonyms

• conviction, insistence, recalcitrance, stubbornness, tenacity
• See also Thesaurus:obstinacy

Translations

See also

• determination, perseverance

English

Alternative forms

• obstinant (proscribed)

Etymology

From Middle English obstinate, obstinat, from Latin obstin?tus, past participle of obstin? (“set one's mind firmly upon, resolve”), from ob (“before”) + *stinare, from stare (“to stand”). Doublet of ostinato.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??b.st?.n?t/, /??b.st?.n?t/
• (US) enPR: äb'st?n?t, IPA^(key): /??b.st?.n?t/, /??b.st?.n?t/
• Hyphenation (US): ob?sti?nate

Adjective

obstinate (comparative more obstinate, superlative most obstinate)

1. Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.
   • 1686, Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, "That men are justly punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort that is not in reason to be defended",

     From this consideration it is that we have derived the custom, in times of war, to punish […] those who are obstinate to defend a place that by the rules of war is not tenable […]

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 21:

     […] the junior Osborne was quite as obstinate as the senior: when he wanted a thing, quite as firm in his resolution to get it; and quite as violent when angered, as his father in his most stern moments

2. (of inanimate things) Not easily subdued or removed.
   • 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part IV, Chapter XXIX,

     Now it happened that Kasturbai […] had again begun getting haemorrhage, and the malady seemed to be obstinate.

3. (of a facial feature) Typical of an obstinate person; fixed and unmoving.

Synonyms

• (stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course): bloody-minded, persistent, stubborn, pertinacious, see also Thesaurus:obstinate
• (not easily subdued): persistent, unrelenting, inexorable

Derived terms

• obstinacy
• obstinately
• obstinateness

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• obstinate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• obstinate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• obstinate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• obestatin, obtainest

Latin

Participle

obstin?te

1. vocative masculine singular of obstin?tus

References

• obstinate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• obstinate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• obstinate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette