stubborn
stubborn
Definition
stub·born (stub′ərn)
adjective
- refusing to yield, obey, or comply; resisting doggedly or unreasonably; resolute or obstinate
- done or carried on in an obstinate or doggedly persistent manner a stubborn campaign
- hard to handle, treat, or deal with; intractable a stubborn cold
Etymology: ME stoburn, prob. < OE stubb, var. of stybb, stub
stub′·bornly adverb
stub′·born·ness noun
stubborn
Synonyms
stubborn
modif.
stubborn
Usage Examples
Preposition: at
- time: They are generally good natured, although very stubborn at times, and really enjoy having friends and joining in group activities.
Preposition: as
- mule: My dad liked to say Louie was as stubborn as the mules he drove through his fields.
Adjective complement with noun phrase
- make: But I will make the king very stubborn, and he will not let the people go.
Modifies a noun
- refusal: Another staff member would halt work to deal with a PC crash or a stubborn refusal to access the Web.
- stain: For stubborn stains, refer to your Product Guide.
- insistence: In her stubborn insistence on significance, Padel misses seduction entirely.
- streak: Other than the perverse stubborn streak, the voice.
- persistence: The reasons for the stubborn persistence of trachoma are clearly presented.
- dirt: Remove any stubborn dirt with a sponge, damp cloth or brush.
Modifying Another Word
- incredibly: Either we've all been incredibly stubborn and ignored the instructions or it just isn't going to work in a pastoral situation.
- particularly: Particularly stubborn terrorists face even greater torment, however.
- too: In fact most of them are too stubborn to train!
- very: You will always have some stray, very stubborn hairs in the first few times you wax.
- rather: Donkbeard quickly brushed the crumbs away but they were rather stubborn and he had to give his beard a bit of a tug.
- really: On really stubborn marks use a little neat ammonia on a damp cloth.
Used with adjective complement
- remain: But a small minority remain stubborn in their belief that without The Beatles the musical landscape would be a very different place.
- become: But the king became stubborn again and did not let the people go.
- prove: I've managed to shift some but there's still a circle about four inches in diameter that's proving very stubborn.
- remove: Use a foam lance to cover all surfaces with foam, scrub walls and floor to remove stubborn soiling.
- get: MN: If anything, you get more stubborn, more entrenched.
Browse dictionary entries near stubborn
- stubble
- stubbed
- stub
- Stuart
- STS
- strychninism
- strychnine
- struthious
- strut
- strung
- stubbornly
- stubbornness
- Stubbs
- stubby
- stucco
- stuck
- stuck-up
- stud
- stud poker
- studbook
