recalcitrant
See also: récalcitrant
English
WOTD – 13 September 2011
Etymology
Borrowed from French récalcitrant, from Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɹɪ.ˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/
Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective
recalcitrant (comparative more recalcitrant, superlative most recalcitrant)
- Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority.
- 1908, Edith Wharton, “In Trust”, in The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories:
- His nimble fancy was recalcitrant to mental discipline.
- 1914, P. G. Wodehouse, Death at the Excelsior:
- There was something in her manner so reminiscent of the school teacher reprimanding a recalcitrant pupil that Mr. Snyder's sense of humor came to his rescue.
- 1959 June 8, “Kenya: The Hola Scandal”, in Time:
- Kenya's official "Cowan Plan," named after a colonial prison administrator, decreed that recalcitrant prisoners "be manhandled to the site and forced to carry out the task."
- Unwilling to cooperate socially.
- Difficult to deal with or to operate.
- 2003, Robert G. Wetzel, “Solar radiation as an ecosystem modulator”, in E. Walter Helbling, Horacio Zagarese, editors, UV Effects in Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems, page 13:
- The more labile organic constituents of complex dissolved and particulate organic matter are commonly hydrolyzed and metabolized more rapidly than more recalcitrant organic compounds that are less accessible enzymatically.
- 2004, Derek W. Urwin, Germany: From Geographical Expression to Regional Accommodation, in Michael Keating (editor), Regions and Regionalism in Europe, page 47:
- The Hansa had no legal status, independent finances or a common institutional framework, while the major weapon against recalcitrant members (or opponents) was the threat of embargo.
- 2006, Janet Pierrehumbert, “Syllable structure and word structure: a study of triconsonantal clusters in English”, in Patricia A. Keating, editor, Phonological Structure and Phonetic Form, page 179:
- Particularly recalcitrant examples which made it impossible to remove actual words while maintaining the balance of the set were resolved by altering a consonant in the base word to create a new base form.
- 2010, Brian J. Hall, John C. Hall, Sauer's Manual of Skin Diseases, page 251:
- However, when a clinician is faced with a more recalcitrant case, it is important to remember to ask the patient whether psychological, social, or occupational stress might be contributing to the activity of the skin disorder.
- 2014 May 11, Ivan Hewett, “Piano Man: a Life of John Ogdon by Charles Beauclerk, review: A new biography of the great British pianist whose own genius destroyed him [print version: A colossus off-key, 10 May 2014, p. R27]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):
- The temptation is to regard him [John Ogdon] as an idiot savant, a big talent bottled inside a recalcitrant body and accompanied by a personality that seems not just unremarkable, but almost entirely blank.
- (botany, of seed, pollen, spores) Not viable for an extended period; damaged by drying or freezing.
Synonyms
- (stubbornly unwilling to obey authority): argumentative, disobedient
- (difficult to operate or deal with): stubborn, unruly, adversarial, obstreperous, intransigent
See also Thesaurus:obstinate
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey figures of authority
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hard to deal with or operate
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from French récalcitrant, from Middle French recalcitrant, from Latin recalcitrāns.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌreː.kɑl.siˈtrɑnt/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: re‧cal‧ci‧trant
- Rhymes: -ɑnt
Adjective
recalcitrant (comparative recalcitranter, superlative recalcitrantst)
- recalcitrant
- Synonym: weerspannig
Inflection
Inflection of recalcitrant | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | recalcitrant | |||
inflected | recalcitrante | |||
comparative | recalcitranter | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | recalcitrant | recalcitranter | het recalcitrantst het recalcitrantste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | recalcitrante | recalcitrantere | recalcitrantste |
n. sing. | recalcitrant | recalcitranter | recalcitrantste | |
plural | recalcitrante | recalcitrantere | recalcitrantste | |
definite | recalcitrante | recalcitrantere | recalcitrantste | |
partitive | recalcitrants | recalcitranters | — |
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /reˈkal.ki.trant/, [rɛˈkäɫ̪kɪt̪rän̪t̪]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /reˈkal.t͡ʃi.trant/, [reˈkäl̠ʲt͡ʃit̪rän̪t̪]
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French récalcitrant.
Adjective
recalcitrant m or n (feminine singular recalcitrantă, masculine plural recalcitranți, feminine and neuter plural recalcitrante)
Declension
Declension of recalcitrant
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative | indefinite | recalcitrant | recalcitrantă | recalcitranți | recalcitrante | ||
definite | recalcitrantul | recalcitranta | recalcitranții | recalcitrantele | |||
genitive/ dative | indefinite | recalcitrant | recalcitrante | recalcitranți | recalcitrante | ||
definite | recalcitrantului | recalcitrantei | recalcitranților | recalcitrantelor |
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