Crossword clues for obstinacy
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Obstinacy \Ob"sti*na*cy\, n. [See Obstinate.]
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A fixedness in will, opinion, or resolution that can not be shaken at all, or only with great difficulty; firm and usually unreasonable adherence to an opinion, purpose, or system; unyielding disposition; stubborness; pertinacity; persistency; contumacy.
You do not well in obstinacy To cavil in the course of this contract.
--Shak.To shelter their ignorance, or obstinacy, under the obscurity of their terms.
--Locke. -
The quality or state of being difficult to remedy, relieve, or subdue; as, the obstinacy of a disease or evil.
Syn: Pertinacity; firmness; resoluteness; inflexibility; persistency; stubbornness; perverseness; contumacy.
Usage: Obstinacy, Pertinacity. Pertinacity denotes great firmness in holding to a thing, aim, etc. Obstinacy is great firmness in holding out against persuasion, attack, etc. The former consists in adherence, the latter in resistance. An opinion is advocated with pertinacity or defended with obstinacy. Pertinacity is often used in a good sense; obstinacy generally in a bad one. ``In this reply was included a very gross mistake, and if with pertinacity maintained, a capital error.''
--Sir T. Browne. ``Every degree of obstinacy in youth is one step to rebellion.''
--South.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., from Medieval Latin obstinatia, from obstinatus (see obstinate).
Wiktionary
n. The state, or an act, of stubbornness or doggedness.
WordNet
n. the trait of being difficult to handle or overcome [syn: stubbornness, obstinance, mulishness]
resolute adherence to your own ideas or desires [syn: stubbornness, bullheadedness, obstinance, pigheadedness, self-will]
Usage examples of "obstinacy".
Ruth did not need the doctors in the antenatal clinic to which she travelled once a fortnight on innumerable buses, to tell her that her baby was fit and well, but what about its mental state - its obstinacy?
Cathy, who got thoroughly drenched for her obstinacy in refusing to take shelter, and standing bonnetless and shawl-less to catch as much water as she could with her hair and clothes.
The obstinacy of the French academy in refusing to adopt foreign words skews more pride than wisdom.
And earlier still that morning he had found himself gazing entranced at the underslept Aztec obstinacy of Imaculada .
I have not reason to curse the undutiful obstinacy of that pert baggage, and renounce her for ever as an alien to my blood.
In consequence of these obstacles, joined to the apostacy of the elector of Cologn, the obstinacy of the elector palatine, and the approaching diet of Hungary, at which their imperial majesties were obliged personally to preside, the measures for the election were suspended till next summer, when his Britannic majesty was expected at Hanover to put the finishing stroke to this great event in favour of the house of Austria.
The sense of sleep was upon me, and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider.
If desires feed on hopes, and since I have given no hope to Grisostomo or to any other man regarding those desires, it is correct to say that his obstinacy, not my cruelty, is what killed him.
When Domini, full of her secret obstinacy, began to talk gaily he was soon able easily to take his part, and to join her in her effort to include Androvsky in the conversation.
The popular dissensions, founded on the most serious interest, or holy pretence, have scarcely equalled the obstinacy of this wanton discord, which invaded the peace of families, divided friends and brothers, and tempted the female sex, though seldom seen in the circus, to espouse the inclinations of their lovers, or to contradict the wishes of their husbands.
But the people of Alexandria, a various mixture of nations, united the vanity and inconstancy of the Greeks with the superstition and obstinacy of the Egyptians.
The illiterate may reflect on the disposition of the learned, who, amidst all the advantages of study and reflection, are commonly still diffident in their determinations: and if any of the learned be inclined, from their natural temper, to haughtiness and obstinacy, a small tincture of Pyrrhonism might abate their pride, by showing them, that the few advantages, which they may have attained over their fellows, are but inconsiderable, if compared with the universal perplexity and confusion, which is inherent in human nature.
Generally speaking, passive resistance, unteachableness and obstinacy, but not insurrectionary energy, increase rapidly with age.
They are, therefore, impatient till they escape from a state, which to them is so uneasy: and they think, that they could never remove themselves far enough from it, by the violence of their affirmations and obstinacy of their belief.
Venier, I did not devote any time to the study, either moral or physical, of the country, for, excepting the days on which I was on duty, I passed my life at the coffee-house, intent upon the game, and sinking, as a matter of course, under the adverse fortune which I braved with obstinacy.