Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Determined to have one's own way; stubbornly and often recklessly willful. synonym: obstinate.
  • adjective Resulting from willfulness and obstinacy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Wilful; ungovernable; obstinate; bent on pursuing one's own ends.
  • Directed by or proceeding from obstinate wilfulness: as, a headstrong course.
  • Synonyms Intractable, unruly, stubborn, dogged.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not easily restrained; ungovernable; obstinate; stubborn.
  • adjective Directed by ungovernable will, or proceeding from obstinacy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Determined to do as one pleases, and not as others want.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

head +‎ strong

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Examples

  • The only way this can be done practically, though, is if Sarah receives a rollback, a brand new rejuvenation technique that can only be afforded to the rich and powerful - like a certain headstrong millionaire.

    REVIEW: Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer 2008

  • Both are known as headstrong leaders unaccustomed to sharing power.

    For Pakistan, a Tenuous Accord 2007

  • But I felt that it was clear that the least want of firmness at the outset would endanger my whole educational plan; therefore, I stood firm, and indeed gained my point, though at the price of being called headstrong, self-willed, and stubborn.

    Autobiography of Friedrich Froebel Froebel, Friedrich, 1782-1852 1889

  • But I felt that it was clear that the least want of firmness at the outset would endanger my whole educational plan; therefore, I stood firm, and indeed gained my point, though at the price of being called headstrong, self-willed, and stubborn.

    Autobiography of Friedrich Froebel $c translated and annotated by Emilie Michaelis ... and H. Keatley Moore. Friedrich Fr��bel 1817

  • My daughter brings new meaning to the terms "single-minded" and "headstrong" -- so for pretty much all of her life attempting to argue with her has just re-invigorated her determination to go her own way.

    Wired Campus 2010

  • My daughter brings new meaning to the terms "single-minded" and "headstrong" -- so for pretty much all of her life attempting to argue with her has just re-invigorated her determination to go her own way.

    Wired Campus 2010

  • IRP forum, I'm known as headstrong, but still a fairly good debater.

    unknown title 2009

  • This is especially true for the "headstrong" kids.

    How Children Behave at the Dentist, What to Expect Dr. Dean Brandon 2006

  • Because I know I'm the good girl, the pure girl, the smart girl, the over-achieving girl ... and maybe it's something about everything that makes me the kind of headstrong girl that the bad boys have fun chasing after.

    \"Like...perfect\" annabellee3 2004

  • Homer (in the _Odyssey_ at any rate), Herodotus (in what was certainly not intentional fiction at all), and Xenophon [5] are about the only Greek writers who can tell a story, for the magnificent narrative of Thucydides in such cases as those of the Plague and the Syracusan cataclysm shows all the "headstrong"

    A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 George Saintsbury 1889

Comments

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  • Obi-Wan was this when he was younger.

    July 22, 2012

  • Was he that when he was older? Or did he remain this? What about when he was other, and middle aged? Please explain.

    July 22, 2012