obstinate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb persist stubbornly
    • he obstinates himself against all rational arguments
  2. adjective tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield
    stubborn; unregenerate.
  3. adjective satellite stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
    obdurate; unrepentant; cussed.
  4. adjective satellite resistant to guidance or discipline
    wayward; perverse; contrary.
    • Mary Mary quite contrary
    • an obstinate child with a violent temper
    • a perverse mood
    • wayward behavior

WordNet

Ob"sti*nate adjective
Etymology
L. obstinatus, p.p. of obstinare to set about a thing with firmness, to persist in; ob (see Ob-) + a word from the root of stare to stand. See Stand, and cf.Destine.
Definitions
  1. Pertinaciously adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course; persistent; not yielding to reason, arguments, or other means; stubborn; pertinacious; -- usually implying unreasonableness.
    I have known great cures done by obstinate resolution of drinking no wine. Sir W. Temple.
    No ass so meek, no ass so obstinate. Pope.
    Of sense and outward things. Wordsworth.
  2. Not yielding; not easily subdued or removed; as, obstinate fever; obstinate obstructions. Syn. -- Stubborn; inflexible; immovable; firm; pertinacious; persistent; headstrong; opinionated; unyielding; refractory; contumacious. See Stubborn. -- Ob"sti*nate*ly, adv. -- Ob"sti*nate*ness, n.

Webster 1913