different between obstinate vs froward

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English froward, fraward, equivalent to fro +? -ward. Compare Old English fromweard, framweard (“turned away, having the back turned”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f???.(w)?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?f?o?.?d/

Adjective

froward (comparative more froward, superlative most froward)

1. (archaic, literary) Disobedient, contrary, unmanageable; difficult to deal with; with an evil disposition.
   • 1553 (posth.), Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, Book I, Chapter 14:

     But in the meanwhile, for fear lest if he would wax never the better he would wax much the worse; and from gentle, smooth, sweet, and courteous, might wax angry, rough, froward, and sour, and thereupon be troublous and tedious to the world to make fair weather with; they give him fair words for the while and put him in good comfort, and let him for the rest take his own chance.

   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act I, Scene 2,^[1]

     Her only fault,—and that is faults enough,—

     Is, that she is intolerable curst

     And shrewd and froward, so beyond all measure,

     That, were my state far worser than it is,

     I would not wed her for a mine of gold.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Proverbs 21:8,^[2]

     The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, "Of Innovation"

     All this is true, if time stood still; which contrariwise moveth so round, that a froward retention of custom, is as turbulent a thing as an innovation […]

   • 1816, George Crabb, English Synonymes Explained, London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, p. 133,^[3]

     A froward child becomes an untoward youth, who turns a deaf ear to all the admonitions of an afflicted parent.

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

     So I took a great dry gourd and, cutting open the head, scooped out the inside and cleaned it; after which I gathered grapes from a vine which grew hard by and squeezed them into the gourd, till it was full of the juice. Then I stopped up the mouth and set in the sun, where I left it for some days, until it became strong wine; and every day I used to drink of it, to comfort and sustain me under my fatigues with that from froward and obstinate fiend; and as often as I drank myself drunk, I forgot my troubles and took new heart.

   • 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, "The Two Towers":

     'I owe much to Eomer,' said Theoden. 'Faithful heart may have froward tongue.'

Synonyms

• untoward

Derived terms

• enfroward

Translations

Preposition

froward

1. (obsolete) Away from.

   • Whan Sir Galahad herde hir sey so, he was adrad to be knowyn; and therewith he smote hys horse with his sporys and rode a grete pace froward them.

Anagrams

• Forward, Warford, forward