Obstinacy

Definitions: Obstinacy

Obstinacy

Noun

1. The trait of being difficult to handle or overcome.

2. Resolute adherence to your own ideas or desires.

Date "obstinacy" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Note: Obstinacy \Ob"sti*na*cy\, noun. [See Obstinate.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Obstinacy

Synonyms: bullheadedness (n), mulishness (n), obstinance (n), pigheadedness (n), self-will (n), stubbornness (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Inactivity	Noun: inactivity; inaction; inertness; obstinacy.
Obstinacy	Noun: obstinateness; Adjective: obstinacy, tenacity; cussedness; perseverance; a; immovability; old school; inflexibility; (hardness); obduracy, obduration; dogged resolution; resolution; ruling passion; blind side.
Permanence	Noun: stability; quiescence; obstinacy.
Physical Inertness	Mental inertness; sloth; (inactivity); inexcitability; irresolution; obstinacy; permanence.
Resolution	Mastery over self; self control, self command, self possession, self reliance, self government, self restraint, self conquest, self denial; moral courage, moral strength; perseverance; a; tenacity; obstinacy; bulldog; British lion.
Stability	Permanence; obstinacy.
Sullenness	Moodiness; Adjective: perversity; obstinacy; torvity, spinosity; crabbedness; Adjective:
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Obstinacy

English words defined with "obstinacy": Asininity ♦ Headstrongness ♦ Incompliance, Inveteracy ♦ Obstination, Opiniatrety ♦ Pervicacity ♦ Self-willedness, Setness, Stiff neck ♦ Tenacy, Threap. (references)

Specialty definitions using "obstinacy": Obstinate, Opposition. (references)

Etymologies containing "obstinacy": Headstrongness ♦ Pervicacity ♦ Tenacy. (references)

Domain	Usage
Clever	Love is the only fire hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a creature's will. (references; author: unknown)
Movie/TV Titles	When Persistency and Obstinacy Meet (1912)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Arthur Schopenhauer	Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.
Harriet Beecher Stowe	The obstinacy of cleverness and reason is nothing to the obstinacy of folly and inanity.
Laurence Sterne	'Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause, and obstinacy in a bad one.
Sir Robert Peel	Public opinion is a compound of folly, weakness, prejudice, wrong feeling, right feeling, obstinacy, and newspaper paragraphs.
Sir Thomas Browne	Obstinacy in a bad cause is but constancy in a good.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	His obstinacy was the talk of the country, and all dreaded the result.
Gulliver's Travels	Swift, Jonathan	Of all this the people are well apprised, and understand how far to carry their obstinacy, where their liberty or property is concerned.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	OPPOSITION, n. In politics the party that prevents the Government from running amuck by hamstringing it. The King of Ghargaroo, who had been abroad to study the science of government, appointed one hundred of his fattest subjects as members of a parliament to make laws for the collection of revenue. Forty of these he named the Party of Opposition and had his Prime Minister carefully instruct them in their duty of opposing every royal measure. Nevertheless, the first one that was submitted passed unanimously. Greatly displeased, the King vetoed it, informing the Opposition that if they did that again they would pay for their obstinacy with their heads. The entire forty promptly disemboweled themselves. "What shall we do now?" the King asked. "Liberal institutions cannot be maintained without a party of Opposition." "Splendor of the universe," replied the Prime Minister, "it is true these dogs of darkness have no longer their credentials, but all is not lost. Leave the matter to this worm of the dust." So the Minister had the bodies of his Majesty's Opposition embalmed and stuffed with straw, put back into the seats of power and nailed there. Forty votes were recorded against every bill and the nation prospered. But one day a bill imposing a tax on warts was defeated -- the members of the Government party had not been nailed to their seats! This so enraged the King that the Prime Minister was put to death, the parliament was dissolved with a battery of artillery, and government of the people, by the people, for the people perished from Ghargaroo.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
George Washington	1789-1797	From the advices which have been forwarded, the advance which he has made must have damped the ardor of the savages and weakened their obstinacy in waging war against the United States.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Obstinacy" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Obstinacy" is used about 78 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	78	37,656

Expression using "obstinacy": blind obstinacy. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "obstinacy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		kryeneçësi (contrariness, persistence, persistency, stubbornness), kokëfortësi (contrariness, intractability, obduracy, persistence, persistency, pertinacity, recalcitrance, stubbornness, waywardness), këmbëngulje (assiduity, assiduousness, importunity, insistence, patience, perseverance, persistence, persistency, pertinacity, self will, stubbornness, tenacity). (various references)

Arabic		‏مكابرة (stickling), ‏تصلب (indurate, intransigence, ossify, perseverance, persistence, shrivel, solidify, stiffen, stubbornness), ‏عناد (inexorability, inflexibility, intransigence, obduracy, pertinacity, perverseness, perversity, refractory, stiffness, stoutness, stubbornness, tenacity, waywardness, wilfulness), ‏إستعصاء على المعالجة. (various references)

Bulgarian		упорство (contumacy, patience, persistence, pertinacity, refractoriness, self will), упоритост (grit, obduracy, patience, perseverance, persistence, pertinacity, piggery, refractoriness, stickiness, stick-to-itiveness, stolidity, stoutness, strenuousness, stubbornness, tenacity, toughness), настойчивост (importunity, insistence, perseverance, persistence, urgency), инат (balky, baulky, cussed, mulish, obstinate, rusty, stiff necked, stubborn, stubbornness). (various references)

Chinese		赌气 (Obstinate, spite). (various references)

Czech		zatvrzelost (impenitence, obduracy), umínìnost (persistence, stubbornness), tvrdošíjnost (pertinacity, refractoriness, tenacity), svéhlavost (persistence, recalcitrance, waywardness). (various references)

Danish		stivsind, staedighed. (various references)

Farsi		لجاجت (Grouch, Obduracy, Pertinacity), سرسختی (Pertinacity, Tenacity), خیره سری (Impudence). (various references)

Finnish		itsepuolustuspäisyys (insistence, stubbornness), härkäpäisyys. (various references)

French		obstination (obduracy). (various references)

German		Eigensinn (caprice, self will, stubbornness, waywardness, whim), Sturheit (bullishness, cussedness, doggedness, dourness, mulishness, obdurateness, pig-headedness, rigidity, stolidness, stubbornness), Starrsinn (headiness, mulishness, stubbornness). (various references)

Greek		γινάτι (pigheadedness), ισχυρογνωμοσύνη (mulishness, obduracy, obdurateness, obstinateness, self will, stubborness, stubbornness, willfulness), πεισμονή (pertinaciousness, pertinacity). (various references)

Hebrew		שרירות (arbitrariness, firmness, obduracy, stubbornness), קושי (difficulty, encumbrance, hardness, toughness), קשיות ערף (self will, stubbornness), עקשות (crookedness, perversity, stubbornness), עקשנות (mulishness, pertinacity, self will, stubbornness, tenacity), התעקשות (insistence, obduracy, persistence, stubbornness), סרבנות (recalcitrance, stubbornness). (various references)

Hungarian		makacsság (fractiousness, obduracy, pertinacity, perversity, setness, stubbornness, tenacity, toughness), konokság (obduracy, persistence, persistency, stubbornness, tenacity), nyakasság (stubbornness), önfejűség (pertinacity, perverseness, perversity, wrong-headedness). (various references)

Indonesian		ketegaran (fortitude, tenacity), kengototan, kebandelan. (various references)

Italian		ostinazione (obduracy, pigheadedness, stubbornness). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		頑固 (stubbornness), 偏執 (bias, eccentricity), 偏屈 (bigotry, eccentricity). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		がしゅう (book of paintings in print, egotism), がい (cap, congratulatory feeling, cover, criminal investigation, damage, evil influence, harm, hundred quintillion, hundred trillion, injury, lid, meaning of a picture, scythe, self-will, suitability, victory song), がんこ (all the houses, ancient days, old times, stubbornness), がんめい (one's previous name, stubbornness), しつよう (importunate, insistence, perseverence, persistence), かたいじ (stubbornness), いこじ (perversity, stubbornness), いじっぱり (obstinate person), いじ (appetite, backbone, disposition, ideogram, maintenance, medical practice, memories, order of rank, order of seating, orphan, preservation, reminiscences, spirit, willpower), ごうふく (stubbornness), ごうじょう (stubbornness), へんしつ (bias, degeneration, deterioration, eccentricity), へんくつ (bigotry, eccentricity), へんしゅう (bias, compilation, eccentricity, editing, editorial, little boat, skiff), えこじ (stubbornness). (various references)

Korean		완고 (self-will). (various references)

Manx		sthurneish, roonid (occultism, perverseness, revengefulness, spitefulness), roon (confidence, malice, resentment; rune, spite, viciousness), kione-lajerys (contumacy, obduracy, persistency), kione-lajerid (persistency). (various references)

Pig Latin		obstinacyay

Portuguese		obstinação (industrial, Mull, obduracy, pertinacity, perversive, recalcitrance, refractoriness, self will, stubbornness, tenacity), obstetrícia (midwifery, tokology), teimosia (contumacy, insistent, mulishness, obdurate, persistent, pertinacity, perversity, recalcitrance, stubbornness), pertinácia (perseverance, pertinacity, tenacity), persistência (endurance, insistence, persistence, tenacity), contumácia (contumacy, nonary, refractoriness). (various references)

Romanian		persistenţã (persistence), îndãrãtnicie (obduracy, pertinacity, perversity, restiveness, stubbornness), încãpãţânare (contrariness, obduracy, pertinacity, perversity, restiveness, stoutness, stubbornness). (various references)

Russian		упрямство (contrariness, cussedness, obduracy, pertinacity, perversity, recalcitrance, self-will, stubborness, stubbornness), упорство (doggedness, perseverance, persistence, pertinacity, recalcitrance, recalcitrancy, stubbornness, tenacity). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		tvrdoglavost (contrariness, intractability, stubbornness), svojeglavost. (various references)

Spanish		obstinación (obduracy, perverseness, perversity, recalcitrance, refractoriness, stubbornness). (various references)

Swedish		trots (defiance, defiantly, despite, in spite of, in the face of, inspite, notwithstandig, notwithstanding, regardless of, scorn, with), envishet (obstinancy, pertinacity, stubbornness, tenacity). (various references)

Turkish		müzmin olma, kronikleşme (inveteracy), inatçılık (contrariness, cussedness, dourness, hardness, indocility, intractability, intransigence, mulishness, obduracy, perversity, recalcitrance, refractoriness, restiveness, self will, stickiness, stiff neck, stiffness, stubbornness, toughness, waywardness, wilfulness, willfulness), inat (contumacy, doggedness, intransigent, persistence, pertinacity, spite, stubbornness, tenacity, waywardness), hırçınlık (acrimony, bad temper, gruffness, pettishness, pugnacity, sourness). (various references)

Turkmen		kesirlik (stobborness), keзlik (stubborness). (various references)

Ukranian		упертість (contrariness, contumacy, induration, intractability, jib, non-compliance, obduracy, persistence, persistency, pertinacity, perversity, piggishness, recalcitrance, tenacity), важковиліковність, настирливість (importunity, obtrusiveness, officiousness), наполегливість (aggressive, insistence, patience, perseverance, persistence, urgency). (various references)

Vietnamese		tính khó bảo (indocility, restiveness), tính cứng đầu cứng cổ (cussedness, fractiousness, indocility, intractability, intractableness, mulishness, pertainciousness, pertinacity, recalcitrance, recalcitration), tính bướng bỉnh (mulishness, stubbornness), sự khó chữa. (various references)

Welsh		ystyfnigrwydd, cyndynrwydd (stubbornness), cildynrwydd (stubbornness), anhydynder. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	pertinacia. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Misspellings
	"Obstinacy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abstinacy, obsinacy, obstanacy, obstinancy. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "obstinacy" (pronounced Ä"bstunusē)
4	-n u s ē	lunacy.
3	-u s ē	accuracy, adequacy, advocacy, Argosy, aristocracy, autocracy, bureaucracy, candidacy, celibacy, confederacy, conspiracy, courtesy, degeneracy, delicacy, democracy, diplomacy, ecstasy, embassy, fallacy, fantasy, Geodesy, heresy, hypocrisy, idiocy, illegitimacy, illiteracy, immediacy, inaccuracy, inadequacy, intimacy, intricacy, jealousy, legacy, legitimacy, leprosy, literacy, meritocracy, Odyssey, papacy, pharmacy, piracy, pleurisy, policy, primacy, privacy, prophecy, secrecy, supremacy, surrogacy, theocracy.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-c-i-n-o-s-t-y"
	-2 letters: actions, atonics, bastion, bonacis, bonitas, botanic, cations, obtains, syconia.
	-3 letters: actins, action, antics, astony, atonic, bacons, bancos, basion, batons, binocs, bionts, biotas, bonaci, bonita, bonsai, botany, cabins, cantos, casino, cation, coatis, cobias, cotans, cytons, nastic, obtain, octans, sanity, satiny, scanty, scotia, tocsin, tonics.
	-4 letters: actin, antic, antis, antsy, ascot, atony, ayins, bacon, baits.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-c-i-n-o-s-t-y"
	+3 letters: antiboycotts, cybernations.
	+4 letters: antiobscenity, bisectionally, incontestably, insociability, syllabication, unsociability.
	+5 letters: carbonylations, carboxylations, compensability, rambunctiously, syllabications.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.