stubborn
Other forms: stubbornest; stubborner
Use the adjective stubborn to describe someone who is not open to new ideas or ways of doing things, like your uncle who refuses to listen to any music made after 1990. Stubborn is the opposite of flexible.
The Middle English version of stubborn carried the sense of “untamable, implacable,” and there’s still a hint of that in how it is used today. A stubborn person holds on to a view or an attitude, refusing to change — to the point of being unreasonable. Things can also be stubborn, like a stain that no amount of scrubbing can clean or a medical condition that, even with treatment, doesn't improve.
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tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield
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synonyms:
obstinate, unregenerate
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inflexible, sturdy, uncompromising
not making concessions
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disobedient
not obeying or complying with commands of those in authority
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bloody-minded, cantankerous
stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
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bolshy, stroppy
obstreperous
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bullet-headed, bullheaded, pigheaded
impossibly stubborn
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dogged, dour, persistent, pertinacious, tenacious, unyielding
stubbornly unyielding
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contrarious, cross-grained
difficult to deal with
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determined
devoting full strength and concentrated attention to
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hardheaded, mulish
unreasonably rigid in the face of argument or entreaty or attack
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stiff-necked
haughtily stubborn
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strong-minded, strong-willed
having a determined will
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intractable
not tractable; difficult to manage or mold
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Antonyms:
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docile
willing to be taught or led or supervised or directed
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obedient
dutifully complying with the commands or instructions of those in authority
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meek, tame
very docile
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sheepish, sheeplike
like or suggestive of a sheep in docility or stupidity or meekness or timidity
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yielding
inclined to yield to argument or influence or control
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manipulable, tractable
easily managed (controlled or taught or molded)
- show more antonyms...
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inflexible, sturdy, uncompromising
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not responding to treatment“a stubborn infection”“stubborn rust stains”
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synonyms:
refractory
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intractable
not tractable; difficult to manage or mold
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intractable
/ˈstəbərn/
/ˈstəbən/
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Vocabulary lists containing stubborn
When riots break out in Los Angeles, sixth-grader Jordan Park decides he must go to his family's store to protect his father.
When almost-eight-year-old Georgie Burgess wins a rosebush from a Florida grocery store, he seeks to give it the tender-loving home that he has never known.
When twelve-year-old Sophie Brown moves from a California city to a farm her dad has inherited, she is determined to learn how to raise the chickens she finds. Here's a link to our collection for the sequel: Are You Ready to Hatch an Unusual Chicken?.
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