overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

stubborn.

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

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈstʌbɚn/General-American/ˈstʌbən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈstʊbən/Northern-England
  1. Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.

    People are pretty stubborn about their political beliefs, so why bother arguing?
    Blood can make a very stubborn stain on fabrics if not washed properly.
  2. Physically stiff and inflexible; not easily melted or worked.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence English bitter).

noun/ˈstʌbɚn/General-American/ˈstʌbən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈstʊbən/Northern-England
  1. Stubbornness.

    informal · uncountable
  2. Ellipsis of stubborn disease (“a disease of citrus trees”).

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence English bitter).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

stubborn has 8 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

stubborn studiostubborn workshello, stubborn

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.