Stubborn

Definition: Stubborn

Stubborn

Adjective

1. Tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield.

2. (medicine) not responding to treatment; "a stubborn infection"; "a refractory case of acne".

3. Difficult to treat or deal with; "stubborn rust stains"; "a stubborn case of acne".

4. Persisting in a reactionary stand.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "stubborn" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1120. (references)

Etymology: Stubborn \Stub"born\, adjective. [from Old English expression stoburn, stiborn; probably from Anglo-Saxon styb stub. See Stub.]. (references)

Synonyms: Stubborn

Certainty

Phrase: cela va sans dire; there is -no question, - not a shadow of doubt; the die is cast; (necessity); " facts are stubborn things ".

Difficulty

Awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable; intractable, stubborn; (obstinate); perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged; knotted, knotty; invious; pathless, trackless; labyrinthine; (convoluted); intricate, complicated; (tangled); impracticable; (impossible); not feasible; desperate; (hopeless).

Existence

Stubborn fact, hard fact; not a dream; no joke.

Hardness

Adjective: hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm; starch, starched; stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding; inflexible, tense; indurate, indurated; gritty, proof.

Obstinacy

Adjective: obstinate, tenacious, stubborn, obdurate, casehardened; inflexible; (hard); balky; immovable, unshakable, not to be moved; inert; unchangeable; inexorable; (determined); mulish, obstinate as a mule, pig-headed.

Resistance

Proof against; unconquerable; (strong); stubborn, unconquered; indomitable; (persevering) a; unyielding; (obstinate).

Strength

Stubborn, thick-ribbed, made of iron, deep-rooted; strong as a lion, strong as a horse, strong as an ox, strong as brandy; sound as a roach; in fine feather, in high feather;stubborn, thick-ribbed, made of iron, deep-rooted; strong as a lion, strong as a horse, strong as an ox, strong as brandy; sound as a roach; in fine feather, in high feather; built like a brick shithouse; like a giant refreshed.

Tenacity

Adjective: tenacious, tough, strong, resisting, sequacious, stringy, gristly cartilaginous, leathery, coriaceous, tough as whitleather; stubborn. (obstinate).

Crosswords: Stubborn

You dumb stubborn redneck hick (Sweet Home Alabama; writing credit: C. Jay Cox)

You stupid, stubborn, pigheaded numbskull (Doctor Who; writing credit: Basil Caplan; Martin Defalco)

You're too stubborn to die, Mr. Paris (Star Trek: Voyager; writing credit: Douglas Day Stewart)

You'll outlive us all, Bruce, you're too stubborn to die. (Batman Beyond; writing credit: Hilary Bader; Stan Berkowitz)

Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool (The Ten Commandments; writing credit: J.H. Ingraham; A.E. Southon)

There was no doubt that stubborn boy was just like my father's son (Love Without End Amen; performing artist: George Strait)

Alexander Galt: The Stubborn Idealist (1962)

The Stubborn Mule (1935)

A Stubborn Cupid (1912)

His Stubborn Way (1911)

The Stubborn Moke (1908)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit (reference)

• Little Miss Stubborn (Mr. Men and Little Miss) (reference)

• Love Me With Stubborn Love: The Why's and How's of Small Groups (reference)

• Max, the Stubborn Little Wolf (reference)

• One Stubborn Cowboy (Silhouette Desire, No 915) (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Motown Legends: I'll Be Doggone - Stubborn Kind of Fellow (reference)

• Stubborn Love (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Cowboys trying to throw a stubborn calf. Cattle ranch near Spur, Texas. Credit: Library of Congress.

Cowboys throwing a stubborn calf. Cattle ranch near Spur, Texas. Credit: Library of Congress.

Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. They are then sold to the mill. He said "There ain't nothin' meaner than a log except a woman when she wants to be. They sure can be stubborn.". Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Ultimately, when stubborn historical facts had dispersed all intoxicating effects of self-deception, this form of Socialism ended in a miserable fit of the blues. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Facts, however, are stubborn, and hard to baffle

Never try to out stubborn a cat.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

When screening tests indicate an immunodeficiency�"or when they fail to explain a stubborn infection�"additional tests will likely be needed. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "stubborn": as stubborn as a mule ♦ be stubborn ♦ stubborn mule ♦ stubborn person ♦ stubborn soil. Additional references.

Albanian

kokëfortë (balky, bullheaded, contrary, cussed, dogged, hard bitten, hardheaded, headstrong, hidebound, impracticable, intractable, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, recalcitrant, self willed, self-opinionated, stickler, stiff necked, strong-willed, urgent, wayward, wilful, willful, wrongheaded). (various references)

Arabic 

‏متعنت (adamant, inflexible, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated), ‏متصلب (adamant, hard line, inexorable, inflexible, intransigent, obdurate, obstinate, relentless, sclerotic, stick in the mud, uncompromising, wilful, willful), ‏مستعص (rebellious), ‏لدود (bitter, deadly, inveterate), ‏حرون (balky, obstinate, rebellious, recalcitrant, restive, sullen, unruly), ‏عنيد (adamant, asinine, contrary, coriaceous, die hard, dogged, dour, fractious, hardheaded, headstrong, heady, implacable, incorrigible, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intractable, intransigent, inveterate, irreconcilable, mulish, nagging, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ornery, peevish, persevering, pertinacious, perverse, piggish, pigheaded, refractory, rigid, scabrous, scratchy, self willed, stiff, stiff necked, stout, sullen, tenacious, thwart, uncompromising, unruly, unwilling, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), ‏عسير (complicated, difficult, hard, intractable, knotty, malaise, precipitous, severe, strait, strenuous, terrible, troublesome, uphill), ‏عضال (cancerous, hopeless, incurable, irremediable, obstinate), ‏صلب (adamant, aguish, callosity, callous, cast iron, concrete, consolidate, corneous, cross oneself, crucifixion, crucify, cruel, firm, harden, horny, inflexible, loin, metallic, out and out, persistent, ramrod, resistant, rigid, robust, sear, solid, solidary, stabile, stark, stiff, stiffen, temper, tenacious, tough, unkind, unyielding), ‏جموح (defiance, disobedience, lawlessness, recalcitrance), ‏جامح (headstrong, inordinate, mad, madcap, raving, unruly, wild, wilful), ‏ثابت (abiding, constant, enduring, fast, firm, fixed, habitual, immobile, immovable, immutable, indubitable, invariable, lasting, lingering, perpetual, settled, solid, stabile, stable, standing, stationary, steadfast, steady, stiff, strong, sturdy, substantive, unfailing, unmoved), ‏شموس (fractious, intractable, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, unwilling). (various references)

Bulgarian 

труден за обработване (marginal), крайно упорит, неподатлив (hardmouthed, immune, impracticable, insusceptible, intractable, proof, restive, unamenable, uncompliant, unsusceptible), инат (balky, baulky, cussed, mulish, obstinacy, obstinate, rusty, stiff necked, stubbornness). (various references)

Chinese 

� �固 (obstinate), � � (mischievous, naughty, obstinate, stupid, to play), 拗 (bend, break in two, contrary), �"� (mistake, to pinch, to twist, wring), �"强 (restiveness, stubbornness), 倨 . (various references)

Czech

vzdorný (defiant, unmanageable), umínìný (headstrong, hell-bent, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, refractory, self-opinionated, wayward, wilful, willful), tvrdohlavý (contrary, headstrong, hell-bent, mulish, opinionated, pigheaded, refractory, self willed), nepovolný (intransigent, relentless, uncompliant, unwilling), neústupný (immovable, insistent, intractable, intransigent, obstinate, pertinacious, refractory, unyielding). (various references)

Danish

modstandsdygtig (tolerant). (various references)

Dutch

koppig (obstinate), hardnekkig (obstinate), halsstarrig (obstinate). (various references)

Esperanto

obstina (obstinate), kontraŭstarema (intractable, obstinate, refractory). (various references)

Faeroese

treiskur (obstinate). (various references)

Farsi 

کله شق (Bullheaded, Obstinate, Pertinacious, Restive), لجوج (Dogged, Dour, Headstrong, Intractable, Obdurate, Obstinate, Obstreperous, Pertinacious, Set, Stickler, Stuffy), سمج (Pertinacious, Stickler), سرسخت (Barnacle, Bullheaded, Diehard, Dogged, Dour, Headstrong, Intransigent, Inveterate, Obstinate, Recalcitrant, Refractory, Remorseless, Stark, Tenacious), خیره سر (Dour, Intractable, Obstinate, Pertinacious), خودسر (Headstrong, Intractable, Opinionated, Pertinacious, Wayward, Wilful). (various references)

Finnish

sitkeä (dogged, persevering, sticky, tenacious, tough, viscous), tulenkestävä (fireproof, flameproof), lämmönkestävä, jäykkäluonteinen, jäykkä (inflexible, rigid, stiff, unbending), jääräpäinen, itsepuolustuspäinen (headstrong, obstinate, self-willed), itsepintainen (persistent), itsepäinen (obstinate). (various references)

French

tenace (stiff), têtu, réfractaire, obstiné, irréductible, entêté (stiff necked, stout). (various references)

German

starrköpfig (bullheadedly, obdurate, obstinate), hartnäckig (adamant, besetting, dogged, dour, importunate, importunately, insistent, intractable, inveterate, obdurate, obstinate, obstinately, persistent, pertinacious, pertinaciously, pugnacious, pugnaciously, refractorily, refractory, strenuous, tenacious, tenaciously, tough, unregenerate, unrelenting, urgent), halsstarrig (obdurate, obstinate), eigensinnig (headstrong, obstinate, opinionated, self willed, wayward, waywardly, willful). (various references)

Greek 

ισχυρογνώμων (contumacious, hard-headed, headstrong, hidebound, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, self willed, self-opinionated, self-willed, wilful, willful), ισχυρογνώμονας, πεισματάρησ (bull-headed, contrary, cussed, dogged, mulish, obstinate, ornery, spiteful, wilful), πεισματάρης (mulish, obstinate, stubborn as a mule), πείσμων (pertinaceous, pertinacious, refractory, wilful, willful), επίμονοσ (importunate, insistent, persevering, persistent, pertinacious, tenacious), αγύριστοσ (not returned, not toured). (various references)

Hebrew 

מעוקש (obstinate), עקשן (adamant, bone head, contrary, dogged, headstrong, obdurate, obstinate, pertinacious, refractory, self willed, stiff necked), עקש (crooked, hardheaded, intransigent, obstinate, perverted, untoward, wilful, willful), כב�" לב (obstinate), �'מחו� י (capricious, obstinate). (various references)

Hungarian

makacs (bullet-headed, bull-headed, contrary, contumacious, 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, stuffed shirt, tough, wrong-headed), konok (bullet-headed, froward, hard-headed, intractable, mulish, obdurate, perverse, refractory, self willed, self-willed, stiff, sullen). (various references)

Indonesian

keras kepala (bullheaded, obstinate, opinionated, opinionative, recalcitrant), dakar (harheaded, obstinate), bengal, bedegong, bandel (dogged, obstinate, undisciplined). (various references)

Irish

dáigh. (various references)

Italian

ostinato (determined, headstrong, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, persistent, pigheaded, self willed, single minded, stiff necked, tough). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

固い (firm not viscous or easily moved). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

が�"きょう (dogged, glasses, ringleader, spectacles, tenacious), しぶとい (tenacious), くつ (footwear, shoes), きょう�"う (consternation, crime, enforcement, famine, firm, forcing, height of a mirror stand, murder, panic, poor crops, Pope, scare, strong, thoracic cavity, thorax, unbending, unyielding, vigorous, violence), かたい (carelessness, certain, difficult, firm, hard, honorable, lower leg, lower limbs, lower part of the body, mistake, negligence, solemn, solid, steadfast, stuffy writing, unpolished writing), かなづちあたま (hard-headed), いっ�"く (a minute, a moment, an instant, hotheaded, hot-headed, one koku, whole country), いってつ (inflexible, obstinate), いじずく (obstinate), け�"かい (headstrong, obstinate, opinion, point of view, prefectural assembly), てづよい (difficult, resolute, strict, strong, tough), て�"わい (difficult, resolute, strict, strong, tough). (various references)

Korean 

완� 한 (Obdurate). (various references)

Manx

sturneishagh (resolute, stubborn person), roonagh (ill intentioned; runic, malicious, malignant, perverse, secret, vicious, vindictive), raghtanagh (harsh, headstrong, indigent, obstinate, rough), raghtal (impatient, impetuous, obstinate, rash, violent), frowartagh (perverse), creoi-wannalagh (impenitent person, stiff-necked, stiff-necked person), creoi-aignagh (obstinate), creoi (adamant, bitter, bitter of frost, blistering, blistering as language, difficult, distressing, dry, hard, hard-boiled, hard-set, hardy, heartless, near, near with money, neat, obdurate, solid, steely, stiff, stiffen, tough), ard-wannalagh (arrogant person, haughty, stuck up, superior). (various references)

Pig Latin

ubbornstay.(various references)

Portuguese

teimoso (ambivalent, balky, die-hard, dogged, hard-mouthed, headstrong, mulish, obstinate, opinionated, peevish, pertinacious, pigheaded, recalcitrant, refractory, self-willed, stiff-necked, strongwilled, tough, tumbler, uncompromising, unmanageable, unwilling, wayward, wilful, willful, wrong-headed), obstinado (ambivalent, balky, contumacious, die-hard, dogged, dour, hard-mouthed, headstrong, mulish, non-ductile, obdurate, obstinate, peevish, pertinacious, recalcitrant, refractory, self-willed, stiff-necked, stolid, tenacious, unredeemed, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrong-headed). (various references)

Romanian

stãruitor (arduous, assiduous, constant, dogged, firm, instant, instantly, patient, persevering, perseveringly, persistent, persisting, pertinacious, pleading, pressing, pushing, steadfast, steady, tenacious, trusty, urgent, zealous), tenace (tenacious, tough), rebel (insubordinate, malcontent, mutineer, rebel, rebellious), dur (callous, difficult, dour, firm, hard, harsh, rigid, rough, roughly, stern, strict, troublesome), dârz (adamant, audacious, daring, gamy, resistant, saucy, steadfast, stout, stoutly, strong-minded, unflinching), cãpãţânos (thick-skulled), aspru (abrupt, abruptly, acid, acrimonious, biting, brisk, callous, clumsy, coarse, crisp, dour, drastic, earthy, edgy, exacting, firm, grating, gruelling, gruff, hard, harsh, hoarse, homespun, husky, ill, inclement, iron, iron-fisted, keen, lashing, nippy, obdurate, punitive, rasping, rigid, rigidly, rigorous, robust, rough, rugged, scabrous, severe, severely, shaggy, shy, smart, snappish, stern, stiff, Strait, strict, strong, tough, unkind, violent, wiry), ambiţios (ambitious, aspiring, high-aimed), înverşunat (deadly, desperate, fierce, fiery, frenzied, furious, hot, rabid, sharp), îndãrãtnic (cussed, indomitable, obdurate, obstinate, perverse, pig-headed, restive, self willed, stubbornly, wilful), îndârjit (hard, hardened, inveterate), încãpãţânat (awkward, contumacious, die hard, dogged, dour, hard, headstrong, inveterate, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, opinioned, pertinacious, perverse, pig-headed, refractory, royalist, self willed, stolid, tough, unwilling, wilful). (various references)

Russian 

упрямый (asinine, balky, baulky, bolshy, contrary, cross-grained, cussed, dogged, dour, froward, hardbitten, headstrong, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, pig-headed, self-opinionated, self-willed, stiff necked, stiff-necked, strong-willed, wilful, willful), упорный;упрямый. (various references)

Scottish

reasgach (irascible, perverse, restive), dùr (dour, dull, obstinate). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

svojeglav (obstinate, ornery), zadrt (obsessed, perverse, possessed), uporan (aggressive, dogged, insistent, last ditch, obdurate, persistent, pertinacious, refractory, tenacious, unremitting), tvrdoglav (crabby, cross-grained, die hard, hard bitten, hardheaded, headstrong, heady, intractable, mulish, obstinate, opinionated, pigheaded, pig-headed, stiff necked, willful), nedokazan (unproved, unsubstantiated), bandoglav. (various references)

Spanish

terco (contrary, cussed, dogged, dour, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pigheaded, self-opinionated, stiff necked, stolid, stout, tough). (various references)

Swedish

envis (be obstinate, contrary, cussed, dogged, dour, headstrong, inflexible, insistent, obstinate, ornery, persistent, pertinacious, tenacious, tough, unrelenting, wilful, wrongheaded). (various references)

Thai

รับมือยาก, �"ื้อรั้น (dogged, dyed-in-the-wool, rebel, stiff-necked). (various references)

Turkish

vazgeçmeyen (tenacious), inatçı (balky, bullet-head, bull-headed, cantankerous, contrary, contumacious, 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, tenacious, unbending, uncompromising, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), dirençli (resistant, robust), dik başlı (contrary, deaf, Froward, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, obstinate, pig-headed, wayward), dediğim dedik (domineering, headstrong, self-opinionated, set), azimli (Dauntless, dead-set on, decided, decisive, determined, dogged, flat-footed, full of zeal, hellbent, high pressure, militant, peppy, persevering, pertinacious, professional, resolute, resolved, set, single minded, single-eyed, single-hearted, stable, stout, strong-minded, sturdy, undeterred, zealous), aksi (adverse, awkward, bad tempered, bilious, bloody minded, cantankerous, contra, contra-, contrary, counter, crabbed, crabby, cross, cross-grained, crosspatch, crotchety, doggish, dour, evil, fractious, fretful, Froward, gruff, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-humored, ill-humoured, inverse, negatory, opposite, peevish, perverse, petulant, recalcitrant, refractory, reverse, shirty, snappish, snuffy, spleenful, spleenish, stroppy, sullen, surly, tart, testy, unfavorable, unfavourable, unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky, untoward, wrongheaded). (various references)

Turkmen 

ketje (obstinate), kesir (obstinate), kejir (obstinate), keзjal (obstinate), keз (obstinate), hцзjet (obstinate). (various references)

Ukrainian

упертий (asinine, bullheaded, churlish, cobby, contumacious, 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, wilful, willful), завзятий (audacious, daring, fervent, mettled, mettlesome, pertinacious, proud, unsparing), запеклий (cutthroat, hard-fought, out and out, stiff). (various references)

Vietnamese 

bướng bỉnh (contrarious, contrary, contumacious, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, rambunctious, refractory, self-willed, stiff-necked), ương bướng (mulish). (various references)

Welsh

ystyfnig (obstinate), pen.gryf (headstrong), gwrthnysig (obstinate), gwargaled (stiffnecked), dengyn (mighty, strong), cyndyn (obstinate), cildynnus (obstinate), cildyn (obstinate), anhyblyg (inflexible, rigid, stiff). (various references)

abruptissimas, adamans, cervicatus, pertinax, pugnax, tenaci, tenax. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "stubborn": stubborner, stubbornest, stubbornly, stubbornness, stubbornnesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Stubborn" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: stabborn, stabor, stubbarn, stubbern, stubbon, stubborne, stubburn, stuben, stuboorn, stuborn, stuburn, Stulberg, sturborn, subborn. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: burbots, burtons.

-2 letters: bourns, brunts, burbot, burton, robust, suborn, turbos.

-3 letters: bonus, borts, bosun, bourn, bouts, brunt, bunts, burbs, burns, burnt, burst, roust, routs, runts, snort, snout, stour, tonus, torus, tours, turbo, turns.

-4 letters: bobs, born, bort, bots, bout, bros, brut, bubo, bubs, buns, bunt, burn, burs, bust, buts, nobs, nous, nubs, nuts, onus.

+2 letters: stubborner, stubbornly.

+3 letters: stubbornest, unabsorbent.

+4 letters: broncobuster, stubbornness.

+5 letters: broncobusters, subinhibitory.