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stubborn

adj
/ˈstʌbɚn/US/ˈstʌbən/UK/ˈstʊbən/

Etymology

From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence English bitter).

  1. inherited from stybb — “a stump, stub”
  2. inherited from *stybbor✻
  3. inherited from stiborne

Definitions

  1. Refusing to move or to change one's opinion

    Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.

    • People are pretty stubborn about their political beliefs, so why bother arguing?
    • Blood can make a very stubborn stain on fabrics if not washed properly.

  2. Physically stiff and inflexible

    Physically stiff and inflexible; not easily melted or worked.

    • Under his hand a stubborn latch sprung noisily […]

  3. Stubbornness.

    • But I have to say that one thing you inherited from your mother is a whole lot of stubborn.
    • That takes a lot of stubborn for a seventy-something man.
    • Stubborn is not eating pizza out of a square pan because you know it won't taste as good as a round one. Stubborn is spending twelve thousand dollars to fix a five-hundred-dollar truck just because it's “your baby.”
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Ellipsis of stubborn disease (“a disease of citrus trees”).

      • With evidence that the causal agent of stubborn is spread by insects, control or prevention of this disease will prove more difficult than formerly thought to be.
      • Sectorial infection of stubborn could be stable for long periods, but may be manifested once the trees are severely pruned, this causing the system spread of S. citri to other non-infected parts.

The neighborhood

Derived

mule-stubborn, outstubborn, stubborn as a mule, stubbornly, stubbornness, stubborns, stubborn up, unstubborn

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at stubborn. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01stubborn02stiff03inflexible04changed05undergone06undergo07endure08persist09resolutely10unyielding

A definitional loop anchored at stubborn. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at stubborn

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA