obstinate

comparative more obstinate · superlative most obstinate · alternative proscribed obstinant

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

   From this consideration it is that we have derived the custom, in times of war, to punish […] those who are obstinate to defend a place that by the rules of war is not tenable […]

   1686, Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, That men are justly punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort that is not in reason to be defended

   1 more example

   […] the junior Osborne was quite as obstinate as the senior: when he wanted a thing, quite as firm in his resolution to get it; and quite as violent when angered, as his father in his most stern moments

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 21, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

   Synonyms: bloody-minded

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

   an obstinate blockage in the pipe

   1 more example

   1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part IV, Chapter XXIX, Now it happened that Kasturbai […] had again begun getting haemorrhage, and the malady seemed to be obstinate.

   Synonyms: persistent, unrelenting, inexorable

3. Of a facial feature or expression, fixed and unmoving.

   He had the same pile of curly hair, but he was clean-shaven with a heavy, obstinate jowl.

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019