Meanings
comparative more inflexible · superlative most inflexible
- Not flexible; not capable of bending or being bent.
Synonyms: stiff, rigid, firm, unyielding
- Not able to be changed or adapted to circumstances.
Being so inflexible, the railway was easy prey to road competition, and the arrival of unregulated lorry transport from farm fields to town centres quickly captured all locally generated business.
2020 November 18, Howard Johnston, “The missing 'Lincs' and the sole survivor”, in Rail, page 58
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot flexible; not capable of bending or being bent.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveincapable of change
adjectivenot making concessions
adjectiveincapable of adapting or changing to meet circumstances
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinīnflexibilis
- Middle Frenchinflexible
- Englishinflexible
Borrowed from Middle French inflexible, from Latin īnflexibilis. See also in- + flexible.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἄκαμπτος
- ἄκαμπτος (ákamptos)stiff, rigid
Bulgarian неогъваем, непреклонен
- неогъваем (neogăvaem)stiff, rigid
- непреклонен (nepreklonen)obstinate, stubborn
- непоколебим (nepokolebim)obstinate, stubborn
Catalan inflexible, inflexible
- inflexiblestiff, rigid
- inflexibleobstinate, stubborn
Chinese Mandarin 呆板, 固執 /固执
- 呆板 (dāibǎn)stiff, rigid
- 固執 /固执 (gùzhí, gùzhi)obstinate, stubborn
- 死板 (sǐbǎn)obstinate, stubborn
Finnish jäykkä, taipumaton
- jäykkästiff, rigid
- taipumatonstiff, rigid
- joustamatonobstinate, stubborn
- joustamatonnot able to be changed or adapted to circumstances
French inflexible
- inflexiblestiff, rigid
German inflexibel, unflexibel
- inflexibelstiff, rigid
- unflexibelstiff, rigid
- unbeugsamobstinate, stubborn
Hindi कड़ा, कठोर
- कड़ा (kaṛā)stiff, rigid
- कठोर (kaṭhor)stiff, rigid
- हठी (haṭhī)obstinate, stubborn
Icelandic ósveigjanlegur, ósveigjanlegur
- ósveigjanlegurstiff, rigid
- ósveigjanlegurobstinate, stubborn
Italian inflessibile
- inflessibilestiff, rigid
Latin rigens
- rigensstiff, rigid
Māori whakaioio, torotika
- whakaioiostiff, rigid
- torotikastiff, rigid
Polish sztywny, nieelastyczny
- sztywnystiff, rigid
- nieelastycznystiff, rigid
- nieugiętyobstinate, stubborn
Portuguese inflexível, inflexível
- inflexívelstiff, rigid
- inflexívelobstinate, stubborn
Romanian neflexibil, inflexibil
- neflexibilstiff, rigid
- inflexibilstiff, rigid
- rigidstiff, rigid
- rigidobstinate, stubborn
Russian неги́бкий, негну́щийся
- неги́бкий (negíbkij)stiff, rigid
- негну́щийся (negnúščijsja)stiff, rigid
- несгиба́емый (nesgibájemyj)stiff, rigid
- неги́бкий (negíbkij)obstinate, stubborn
- непрекло́нный (nepreklónnyj)obstinate, stubborn
Scottish Gaelic rag, rag
- ragstiff, rigid
- ragobstinate, stubborn
Spanish inflexible, inflexible
- inflexiblestiff, rigid
- inflexibleobstinate, stubborn
Ukrainian негнучки́й, непода́тливий
- негнучки́й (nehnučkýj)stiff, rigid
- непода́тливий (nepodátlyvyj)obstinate, stubborn
- непохи́тний (nepoxýtnyj)obstinate, stubborn
- негнучки́й (nehnučkýj)not able to be changed or adapted to circumstances
Cite this entry
inflexible. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inflexible
“inflexible.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inflexible. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inflexible,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inflexible.
Source: inflexible on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.