stubborn
/ˈstʌbɚn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.76 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.
adj
Physically stiff and inflexible; not easily melted or worked.
Example Sentences
- "People are pretty stubborn about their political beliefs, so why bother arguing?"
- "Blood can make a very stubborn stain on fabrics if not washed properly."
- "Under his hand a stubborn latch sprung noisily […]"
- "But I have to say that one thing you inherited from your mother is a whole lot of stubborn."
- "That takes a lot of stubborn for a seventy-something man."
- "Stubborn is not eating pizza out of a square pan because you know it won't taste as good as a round one. Stubborn is spending twelve thousand dollars to fix a five-hundred-dollar truck just because it's “your baby.”"
Etymology
From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn, of uncertain origin; one hypothesis is that it may be from Old English *stybbor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + -or (adjective-formation suffix, as in bitor, whence English bitter).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: stiborne, *stybbor, stybb
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈstʌbɚn/
- British English: /ˈstʌbən/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more stubborn (comparative)
most stubborn (superlative)