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9/15/11

Obdurate

Obdurate
 
Pronounced:
< Ob-jer-rit >
(looks like rate, but is said like rite)

It means:
Not moved by pity.
Stubborn against good advice.

Daily use:
The obdurate boss would not listen to our complaints.
We still had to work late.
obdurate
ob
(reminds of)  =  object or refuse
dur (reminds of) = duration or forever
ate (reminds of)  =  ate or already eaten
I object forever to your words, I have already eaten my own words

Listen: Obdurate

a. [L. obduratus, p. p. of obdurare to harden; ob (see Ob-)+ durare to harden, durus hard. See Dure.] 1. Hardened in feelings, esp. against moral or mollifying influences; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubbornly wicked. “The very custom of evil makes the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary.” Hooker. “Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth?” Shak. 2. Hard; harsh; rugged; rough; intractable. ´Obdurate consonants.´ Swift. Sometimes accented on the second syllable, especially by the older poets. “There is no flesh in man’s obdurate heart.” Cowper. Syn. — Hard; firm; unbending; inflexible; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; impenitent; callous; unfeeling; insensible; unsusceptible. — Obdurate, Callous, Hardened. Callous denotes a deadening of the sensibilities; as. a callous conscience. Hardened implies a general and settled disregard for the claims of interest, duty, and sympathy; as hardened in vice. Obdurate implies an active resistance of the heart and will aganst the pleadings of compassion and humanity. — Ob´du•rate•ly (#), adv.Ob´du•rate•ness, n.

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