Definitions

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

  • adjective Not easily bent; stiff or rigid. cross-reference: stiff.
  • adjective Incapable of being changed; unalterable.
  • adjective Refusing to change one's attitude, purpose, or principles; immovable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not flexible; incapable of bending or of being bent; rigid: as, an inflexible rod.
  • Unyielding in temper or purpose; that will not yield to prayers or arguments; firm in purpose; incapable of being turned; not to be prevailed on.
  • Not to be changed or altered; unalterable; not permitting variation.
  • Synonyms Rigid, stiff.
  • Inexorable, inflexible, resolute, steadfast, unbending, unyielding, immovable, unrelenting; obstinate, stubborn, dogged.

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

  • adjective Not capable of being bent; stiff; rigid; firm; unyielding.
  • adjective Firm in will or purpose; not to be turned, changed, or altered; resolute; determined; unyieding; inexorable; stubborn.
  • adjective Incapable of change; unalterable; immutable.

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

  • adjective Not flexible; not capable of bending or being bent; stiff; rigid; firm; unyielding.
  • adjective Not willing to change, e.g. one's opinion or habits; obstinate; stubborn; resolute; determined.

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

  • adjective incapable of change
  • adjective incapable of adapting or changing to meet circumstances
  • adjective not making concessions
  • adjective resistant to being bent

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

in- +‎ flexible

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Examples

  • Many European diplomats have bad memories of Mr. Samaras for what they called his inflexible, ultra-patriotic stances as foreign minister in theearly 1990s.

    Papandreou's Rival Throws a Lifeline—and an Anchor Marcus Walker 2011

  • But we are likewise indeed far removed from the temper of three or four, even of one or two generations ago, in inflexible insistence that the inequality of classes shall preserve all its old ruthless consequence for individuals.

    The Present Challenge to British Imperialism 1936

  • This brings me to the issue of organised labour in South Africa, which has been described as inflexible and a barrier to investment in some quarters.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1999

  • This brings me to the issue of organised labour in South Africa, which has been described as inflexible and a barrier to investment in some quarters.

    ADDRESS BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT ZUMA TO THE SOUTHERN AFRICA TRADE & INVESTMENT SUMMIT 1999

  • Sagasta, who, to temporize with America, recalled the inflexible

    The Philippine Islands John Foreman

  • Pope become, even in the eyes of devout Catholics, that de Maistre called the inflexible but supine Pontiff a punchinello of no importance.

    The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte Vol. III. (of IV.) William Milligan Sloane 1889

  • Union ought to be impeached, and in his "Recollections," and in one of his published letters to the present Lord Carlingford, he has expressed in the strongest terms his inflexible hostility to Home Rule.

    Lord John Russell 1887

  • The tremendous moral power of this solitary work lies in the fact that it is a series of terrific and fascinating tableaux, embodying the idea of inflexible poetic justice impartially administered upon king and varlet, pope and beggar, oppressor and victim, projected amidst the unalterable necessities of eternity, and moving athwart the lurid abyss and the azure cope with an intense distinctness that sears the gazer's eyeballs.

    The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life William Rounseville Alger 1863

  • And the action, therefore, which Pliny denominated obstinacy, would, if it had been left to us to name it, have been called inflexible virtue, as arising out of a sense of the obligations imposed upon them by the Christian religion.

    A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 3 Thomas Clarkson 1803

  • The new rules won't affect so-called inflexible expenditures, such as subsidies for local government, social insurance and debt service, which can't be altered without additional legislation.

    BusinessWeek.com -- 2010

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