obdurate
7 synonyms and 5 antonyms for obdurate, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Adj — Stubbornly refusing to change your bad behaviour or feel sorry for it.
Synonyms
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. adj
Stubbornly refusing to change your bad behaviour or feel sorry for it.
“An injury-time goal from Nikola Zigic against an obdurate Stoke side gave Birmingham back-to back Premier League wins for the first time in 14 months.”
Opposites
2. adj
Made physically hard or tough.
“The past is obdurate for the same reason a turtle's shell is obdurate: because the living flesh inside is tender and defenseless.”
Opposites
Etymology
First attested in the 1450s, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English obdurat(e), borrowed from Latin obdūrātus (“hardened”), perfect passive participle of obdūrō (“to harden”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ob- (“against”) + dūrō (“to harden, render hard”), from dūrus (“hard”). Compare durable, en...
Full origin of obdurate →