obstinate
adjective
Simple meaning
Refusing to change your mind, even when you should.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ahbstuhnuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɑbstənət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.
of inanimate things
Not easily subdued or removed.
of a facial feature
Typical of an obstinate person; fixed and unmoving.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness; persistent.
Used this way, obstinate is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Nearby words
- cussed , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.