The Collaborative International Dictionary
Obdurate \Ob"du*rate\, a. [L. obduratus, p. p. of obdurare to harden; ob (see Ob-)+ durare to harden, durus hard. See Dure.]
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Hardened in feelings, esp. against moral or mollifying influences; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubbornly wicked.
The very custom of evil makes the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary.
--Hooker.Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth?
--Shak. -
Hard; harsh; rugged; rough; intractable. ``Obdurate consonants.''
--Swift.Note: Sometimes accented on the second syllable, especially by the older poets.
There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart.
--Cowper.Syn: Hard; firm; unbending; inflexible; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; impenitent; callous; unfeeling; insensible; unsusceptible.
Usage: Obdurate, Callous, Hardened. Callous denotes a deadening of the sensibilities; as, a callous conscience. Hardened implies a general and settled disregard for the claims of interest, duty, and sympathy; as, hardened in vice. Obdurate implies an active resistance of the heart and will aganst the pleadings of compassion and humanity. [1913 Webster] -- Ob"du*rate*ly, adv. -- Ob"du*rate*ness, n.
Wiktionary
adv. In an obdurate manner; stubbornly, intractably or inflexibly
WordNet
adv. in a stubborn unregenerate manner; "she remained stubbornly in the same position" [syn: stubbornly, pig-headedly, mulishly, obstinately, cussedly]
Usage examples of "obdurately".
Her husband, Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor, found himself in a curious position for one whose family had so obdurately and persistently opposed Caesar.
I saw Tina and Arlene, in their collars, slumped unconscious at the posts, their small wrists strn obdurately captive in the inflexible slave bracelets which secured them so perfectly at the ring.
It, locked on her body, would confine her obdurately, making her helplessly the rightless slave of a master.
War there was bound to be-Italy was not big enough to contain two factions so obdurately opposed to each other-and so unwilling to forgive and forget for the sake of peace.
No sooner had the servant gone than Philodamus returned to the dining room, there to continue obdurately refusing to show the Romans his daughter.
Whether because he had sensed something in Pompey toward the end of their period together in Spain that had caused him to suspect that Pompey would not be content with a return to obscurity, the Piglet had remained obdurately aloof from the troubles in Rome.
As a piece of hair-splitting it was brilliant, and reconciled many in the Senate to Pompey who were obdurately against a proconsular command going to a man outside the Senate.
Yet here was the past held still and magnified, the gravel thin and dusted with weeds, the strange mossy stain still clinging obdurately to the foot of the front wall like verdigris, climbers taking light from windows, lichen patterning the roof, and the tulip-shaped yew still sporting a ruff of nettles.
Gillings might be a latent Talent himself but he remained obdurately impervious to the problems of the Talented, especially when they interfered with the law enforcement and order of his precious city.