Crossword clues for recalcitrant
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Recalcitrant \Re*cal"ci*trant\ (r[-e]*k[a^]l"s[i^]*trant), a. [L. recalcitrans, p. pr. of recalcitrare to kick back; pref. re- re- + calcitrare to kick, fr. calx heel. Cf. Inculcate.] Kicking back; recalcitrating; hence, showing repugnance or opposition; refractory.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1823, from French récalcitrant, literally "kicking back" (17c.-18c.), past participle of recalcitrare "to kick back; be inaccessible," from re- "back" (see re-) + Latin calcitrare "to kick," from calx (genitive calcis) "heel." Used from 1797 as a French word in English.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority. 2 unwilling to cooperate socially. 3 Difficult to deal with or to operate. 4 (cx botany of seed, pollen, spores English) Not viable for an extended period; damaged by drying or freezing. n. A person who is recalcitrant.
WordNet
adj. marked by stubborn resistance to and defiant of authority or guidance; "a recalcitrant teenager"; "everything revolves around a refractory individual genius" [syn: refractory]
marked by stubborn resistance to authority; "the University suspended the most recalcitrant demonstrators"
Usage examples of "recalcitrant".
All the frustrations James was experiencing with a recalcitrant, unco-operative, fissive, argumentative and Anglocentric parliament could find their outlet here.
I never had to lapidate anybody, though I deposed a few recalcitrants, and it was universally agreed I would be a clement and peaceable Shan King.
Miss Mahan looked at him over her glasses the same way she would a recalcitrant student.
She rode along in silence, ignoring the grunts of exertion from the boy behind, who attempted by force of will as much as horsemanship to keep his recalcitrant mount moving.
And Flinx had no doubt the recalcitrant syb contained potentially interesting material.
I would take Wiggy with me, although I knew that she might prove recalcitrant.
Briefly El wondered how far along the road those two bumbling mages had gotten to yestereve on their recalcitrant mules.
Have you noticed the tendency of some things to behave well at first, as though knowing they are on trial, only to turn recalcitrant and balky when they believe they have been accepted?
The last thing he wanted to do was waste time traipsing around die metroplex after a group of recalcitrant runners, but unfortunately he had no choice.
Russian thought in Europe, which perhaps drew their minds away from their personal imbroglio, seems to have had a mollifying effect on the increasingly acrimonious relations between Dostoevsky and his recalcitrant beloved.
Some there were among them, however, who, feeling perhaps a hint of rebellion upon the part of overdriven muscles, cut switches from ready mesquite and lashed recalcitrant legs until they bled, scarifying them to renewed life and vitality.
All the frustrations James was experiencing with a recalcitrant, unco-operative, fissive, argumentative and Anglocentric parliament could find their outlet here.
The leather bellyband more recalcitrant persons were chained to would not fit around his middle.
Munitions poured in for them through Roumania, which, with a big Red Army on its Bessarabian frontier and its own peasants recalcitrant, remained also ambiguously, dangerously, and yet for a time profitably, out of the struggle.
Jesuits, says that European offenders and recalcitrant Indians in the missions were sent as a last resource to the Spanish settlements.