English

Noun

obduracy ‎(plural obduracies)

1. The state of being obdurate, intractable, or stubbornly inflexible.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV Part 2, act 2, scene 2,

     Thou thinkest me as far in the devil's
     book as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and
     persistency.

   • 1713, Nehemiah Walter, A discourse concerning the wonderfulness of Christ, Eleazer Phillips (Boston), page 156,

     It might also serve to condemn the obduracy and hard-heartedness of the Jews, who relented not, when even the earth trembled and the rocks rent.

   • 1812, Percy Bysshe Shelley, "On Leaving London for Wales," ln 5-6,

     True mountain Liberty alone may heal
     The pain which Custom's obduracies bring.

   • 2007, Simon Hughes, "Chanderpaul finally outwitted by master" Telegraph.co.uk, 20 June,

     Chanderpaul's obduracy might have broken lesser men, but Panesar more than matched him for relentlessness.

Related terms

• obdurate adj

Translations

References

• “obduracy” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• obduracy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “obduracy” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)