Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Contumacious |
ContumaciousAdjective1. Wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient; "a contumaceous witness is subject to punishment". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "contumacious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1872. (references) |
Etymology: Contumacious \Con`tu*ma"cious\, adjective. [Latin expression contumax, -acis. See Contumacy.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: ContumaciousSynonyms: disobedient, headstrong, obdurate, perverse, stubborn, unyielding. (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disobedience | Adjective: disobedient; uncomplying, uncompliant; unsubmissive, unruly, ungovernable; breachy, insubordinate, impatient of control, incorrigible; restiff, restive; refractory, contumacious, recusant; (refuse); recalcitrant; resisting; lawless, mutinous, seditions, insurgent, riotous. |
Obstinacy | Willful, self-willed, perverse; resty, restive, restiff; pervicacious, wayward, refractory, unruly; heady, headstrong; entete; contumacious; crossgrained. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Contumacious |
| English words defined with "contumacious": Stiff-hearted. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "contumacious": safety. (references) |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SAFETY-:CLUTCH:, n. A mechanical device acting automatically to prevent the fall of an elevator, or cage, in case of an accident to the hoisting apparatus. Once I seen a human ruin In an elevator-well, And his members was bestrewin' All the place where he had fell. And I says, apostrophisin' That uncommon woful wreck: "Your position's so surprisin' That I tremble for your neck!" Then that ruin, smilin' sadly And impressive, up and spoke: "Well, I wouldn't tremble badly, For it's been a fortnight broke." Then, for further comprehension Of his attitude, he begs I will focus my attention On his various arms and legs -- How they all are contumacious; Where they each, respective, lie; How one trotter proves ungracious, T'other one an alibi. These particulars is mentioned For to show his dismal state, Which I wasn't first intentioned To specifical relate. None is worser to be dreaded That I ever have heard tell Than the gent's who there was spreaded In that elevator-well. Now this tale is allegoric -- It is figurative all, For the well is metaphoric And the feller didn't fall. I opine it isn't moral For a writer-man to cheat, And despise to wear a laurel As was gotten by deceit. For 'tis Politics intended By the elevator, mind, It will boost a person splendid If his talent is the kind. Col. Bryan had the talent (For the busted man is him) And it shot him up right gallant Till his head begun to swim. Then the rope it broke above him And he painful come to earth Where there's nobody to love him For his detrimented worth. Though he's livin' none would know him, Or at leastwise not as such. Moral of this woful poem: Frequent oil your safety-clutch. Porfer Poog |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Contumacious" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Contumacious" is used about 4 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 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 4 | 175,879 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; 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. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
contumacious | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "contumacious"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | rebel (insurrectionist, malcontent, maverick, mutineer, rebel, rebellious), i pabindur (disobedient, indocile, licentious, naughty, perverse, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, unamenable, unpersuadable, wayward). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | твърдоглав (die hard, dogged, piggish, pigheaded, self-opinionated, uncompliant, wrongheaded), опърничав (impracticable, perverse, shrewish, untoward, vixenish), непокорен (disaffected, disobedient, disorderly, indocile, insubordinate, rambunctious, recalcitrant, refractory, repugnant, restive, tumultuous, unbowed, uncontrollable, undutiful, unfilial, unruly, unsubdued, unsubmissive, untoward, wayward). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | vzpurný (defiant, disorderly, insubordinate, rebellious, recalcitrant, restive, unruly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | widerspenstig (contrarily, contumaciously, disobedient, fractious, insubordinate, intractable, obstinate, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, stubborn, unmanageable, unmanageably, unruly, willful), ungehorsam (disobedience, disobedient, disobediently, disobeying, insubordinate, insubordination, naughtiness, naughty, undutiful, undutifully). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ισχυρογνώμων (hard-headed, headstrong, hidebound, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, self willed, self-opinionated, self-willed, stubborn, wilful, willful), ανυπότακτοσ (insubordinate, maverick, rebellious, recusant, refractory, unruly), απειθήσ (disobedient, insubordinate, undutiful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ממר" (disobedient, obstinate, rebellious, recalcitrant), סורר ומור". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | makacs (bullet-headed, bull-headed, contrary, cross-grained, dogged, dour, froward, hard bitten, hard set, headstrong, hide-bound, inflexible, intractable, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ornery, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, recalcitrant, refractory, self willed, self-opinionated, self-willed, stiff, stiff necked, stubborn, stuffed shirt, tough, wrong-headed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | contumace. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | kione-lajeragh (arbitrary, headstrong, obdurate, obstinate, persistent, strong-willed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ontumaciouscay contumaz (defaulter, obstinate, refractory, stubborn), rebelde (fractious, insubordinate, insurgent, insurrectionist, intractable, obstinate, obstreperous, rebel, rebellious, recalcitrant, reluctant, restive, unamenable, unruly, unsubmissive), obstinado (ambivalent, balky, die-hard, dogged, dour, hard-mouthed, headstrong, mulish, non-ductile, obdurate, obstinate, peevish, pertinacious, recalcitrant, refractory, self-willed, stiff-necked, stolid, stubborn, tenacious, unredeemed, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrong-headed). (various references) nesupus (disobedient, insubordinate, intractable, rebellious, repugnant, unruly), neascultãtor (disobedient, errant, indocile, naughty, obstreperous, repugnant, unruly), încãpãţânat (awkward, die hard, dogged, dour, hard, headstrong, inveterate, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, opinioned, pertinacious, perverse, pig-headed, refractory, royalist, self willed, stolid, stubborn, tough, unwilling, wilful). (various references) упорный (die hard, dogged, hardbitten, indomitable, obstinate, patient, persevering, persistent, pertinacious, refractory, tenacious, unremitting, unyielding), непокорный (disobedient, indocile, insubordinate, lawless, rambunctious, recalcitrant, ungovernable, unruly, unsubmissive). (various references) neposlušan (disobedient, insubordinate, recalcitrant, unruly), nepokoran (disobedient, hardmouthed, insubordinate, unamenable, unconforming, unsubmissive). (various references) contumaz (obstinate, tough). (various references) tredsk (refractory), gensträvlig. (various references) itaatsiz (disobedient), inatçı (balky, bullet-head, bull-headed, cantankerous, contrary, cussed, die hard, difficult, dogged, dour, fractious, hard bitten, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, hard-nosed, headstrong, heady, indocile, inflexible, insistent, intractable, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, obstinate person, opinionated, persistent, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, self willed, self-opinionated, set, spiky, stern, sticker, stickler, sticky, stiff necked, strongheaded, strong-willed, stubborn, tenacious, unbending, uncompromising, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), asi (beat, disobedient, insubordinate, insurgent, insurrectional, insurrectionary, insurrectionist, mugwump, mutineer, mutinous, rebel, rebellious, rioter, seditious, ungovernable, unruly, unsubmissive, wayward). (various references) упертий (asinine, bullheaded, churlish, cobby, cross-grained, difficile, disobedient, dogged, hard-nosed, headstrong, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, opinioned, patient, persistent, pertinacious, perverse, piggish, pigheaded, rebellious, reluctant, restive, rowdy, self-opinionated, set, stiff necked, strong-willed, stubborn, wilful, willful), неслухняний (disobedient, indocile, naughty, non-ductile, ungovernable). (various references) bướng bỉnh (contrarious, contrary, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, rambunctious, refractory, self-willed, stiff-necked, stubborn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "contumacious": contumaciously. (additional references) | |
| |
"Contumacious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: contamacious, cotumacious. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "contumacious" (pronounced 'Con`tu*ma"cious'): Artificious, Astucious, Atrocious, Audacious, Auspicious, Autoecious, Avaricious, Bibacious, Capacious, Capricious, Cilicious, Convicious, Delicious, fugacious, Fumacious, Furacious, Glacious, gracious, heteroecious, inauspicious, inefficacious, injudicious, judicious, Linguacious, loquacious, luscious, Malgracious, malicious, mendacious, Meracious, meretricious, minacious, Misgracious, monoecious, mordacious, Multiplicious, Multiscious, Obstetricious, Officious, Omniscious, Overluscious, Overofficious, Palacious, Perspicacious, Pertinacious, Pervicacious, Petrosilicious, Phenicious, Phoenicious, Precocious. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-c-i-m-n-o-o-s-t-u-u" | |
-3 letters: aconitums, autonomic, coactions, cocoanuts, cosmonaut, onomastic. | |
-4 letters: accounts, accustom, aconitum, acoustic, amotions, auctions, cautions, cautious, coaction, cocoanut, cocomats, coconuts, manitous, miscount, moccasin, monastic, mucinous, muticous, mutinous, occasion, tinamous, tsunamic. | |
-5 letters: account, acinous, actions, amotion, amounts, anosmic, atomics, atonics, auction, autumns, camions, cations, caustic, caution, cocains, cocomat, coconut, comatic, conatus, coniums, maniocs, manitos, manitou. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-c-i-m-n-o-o-s-t-u-u" | |
+2 letters: contumaciously. | |
| 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. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Quotations: Non-fiction | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Derivations | 9. Rhymes 10. Anagrams 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
