A.Word.A.Day --obdurate

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Apr 7, 2010

This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
desideratum
limen
obdurate
quiescence
chicanery

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

obdurate

PRONUNCIATION:

(OB-doo-rit, -dyoo-)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Stubborn: not easily moved.
2. Hard-hearted: resistant to emotions.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin obdurare (to harden), from durus (hard). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deru- (to be firm) that's the source of such other words as truth, trust, betroth, tree, endure, druid, during, durable, duress, trow, and indurate.

USAGE:

"The White Paper outlines no strategy to end government's obdurate resistance to proper pricing of passenger services."
Raghu Dayal; Whither is Fled, Railways' Visionary Gleam? The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Feb 23, 2010.

See more usage examples of obdurate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Once we assuage our conscience by calling something a "necessary evil", it begins to look more and more necessary and less and less evil. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist (1917-1986)

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