different between stubborn vs obstreperous

English

Etymology

From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn. Origin uncertain.

One theory is that the origin may come from *stybor, *stibor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + adj. formative -or as in Old English bitor, English bitter.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?st?b?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?st?b?n/
• Rhymes: -?b?(?)n
• Hyphenation: stub?born

Adjective

stubborn (comparative stubborner, superlative stubbornest)

1. Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.

2. Of materials: physically stiff and inflexible; not easily melted or worked.

Synonyms

• willful, headstrong, wayward, obstinate, obdurate, contrary, disobedient, insubordinate, undisciplined, adamant, unyielding, rebellious
• See also Thesaurus:obstinate, perseverant, persistent, enduring

Derived terms

• stubbornly
• stubbornness

Translations

Noun

stubborn (uncountable)

1. (informal) Stubbornness.
2. A disease of citrus trees characterized by stunted growth and misshapen fruit, caused by Spiroplasma citri.

Further reading

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

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obstreperus, first attested circa 17th c.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?st??p.??.?s/, /?b?st??p.??.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?st??p???s/, /??b?st??p???s/

Adjective

obstreperous (comparative more obstreperous, superlative most obstreperous)

1. Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous.

   Synonyms: clamorous, loud, noisy, vociferous

   • 1809, Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York, ch. 7:

     [O]n a clear still summer evening you may hear from the battery of New York the obstreperous peals of broad-mouthed laughter of the Dutch negroes at Communipaw.

   • 1855, Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came":

     […] my hope

     Dwindled into a ghost not fit to cope

     With that obstreperous joy success would bring

   • 1918, Henry B. Fuller, On the Stairs, ch. 3:

     He developed an obstreperous baritone […] and he made himself rather preponderant, whether he happened to know the song or not.

2. Stubbornly defiant; disobedient; resistant to authority or control, whether in a noisy manner or not.

   Synonyms: recalcitrant, uncooperative, unruly; see also Thesaurus:obstinate

   • 1827, Sir Walter Scott, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, October 1827:

     [W]e came to Whittingham. Thence to Newcastle, where an obstreperous horse retarded us for an hour at least.

   • 1903, Lucy Maud Montgomery, "A Sandshore Wooing" in Short Stories: 1902-1903:

     My dress was draggled, my hat had slipped back, and the kinks and curls of my obstreperous hair were something awful.

   • 1915, Stewart Edward White, The Gray Dawn, ch. 70:

     They reviled the committee collectively and singly; bragged that they would shoot Coleman, Truett, Durkee, and some others at sight; flourished weapons, and otherwise became so publicly and noisily obstreperous that the committee decided they needed a lesson.

   • 2015, Penny Dreadful S2E9, 3 min

     This is what your boyfriend did, honey. When he was in one of his more obstreperous moods.

Derived terms

• obstreperously
• obstreperousness
• stroppy

Translations