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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

obstinate.

Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɒb.stɪ.nət/UK/ˈɒb.stɪ.nɪt/UK/ˈɑb.stə.nət/US/ˈɑb.stə.nɪt/US
  1. Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.

  2. Of an inanimate object, not easily subdued or removed.

    an obstinate blockage in the pipe
  3. Of a facial feature or expression, fixed and unmoving.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English obstinat(e) (“obstinate, stubborn”), from Latin obstinātus, perfect passive participle of obstinō (“set one's mind firmly upon, resolve”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ob (“before”) + *stinare, from stare (“to stand”). Doublet of ostinato.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.