stubborn

Meaning

Adj

1. Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.
2. Of materials: physically stiff and inflexible; not easily melted or worked.

Noun

1. (informal, uncountable) Stubbornness.
2. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable) Ellipsis of stubborn disease (“a disease of citrus trees”).

Synonyms

obstinate

headstrong

persistent

wilful

unyielding

tenacious

willful

pigheaded

disobedient

obdurate

dogged

mulish

refractory

self-willed

pig-headed

pertinacious

perverse

wayward

intractable

opinionated

hardheaded

restive

intransigent

persevering

insistent

tough

stiff-necked

inflexible

firm

stiff

hard-headed

unregenerate

persist

thickheaded

single-minded

be obstinate

determined

wild

uncompromising

balk

mischievous

naughty

rebellious

insist

jib

unbalanced

difficult

bullheaded

hard

recalcitrant

Translations

têtu

terco

obstiné

testardo

ostinato

hartnäckig

cocciuto

hardnekkig

caparbio

obstinado

entêté

eigensinnig

inatçı

teimoso

starrköpfig

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈstʌbɚn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: stiborne

In summary

From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence English bitter).