Definitions

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

  • adjective Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; uncompromising.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Refusing to agree or come to an understanding; uncompromising; irreconcilable: used especially of some extreme political party. See intransigentist.
  • noun Same as intransigentist.

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

  • adjective Refusing compromise; uncompromising; inflexible; irreconcilable.

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

  • adjective Unwilling to compromise or moderate a position; unreasonable; irreconcilable; stubborn.

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

  • adjective impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French intransigeant, from Spanish intransigente : in-, not (from Latin; see in–) + transigente, present participle of transigir, to compromise (from Latin trānsigere, to come to an agreement : trāns-, trans- + agere, to drive; see ag- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French intransigeant, from Spanish intransigente

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Examples

  • Confrontation at the University of the Witwatersrand, the administration of which it described as intransigent, highlighted the need for undemocratic and unrepresentative councils to disband and for transformation forums to be established.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1995

  • "We denounced in the strongest possible terms the intransigent and arrogant actions of the US government reflected by its decision to launch a brutal attack on the Iraqi people in defiance of world opinion," it said in a statement.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2003

  • He now faces a stark decision between moving forward and doing what we believe is in his best interests, pursuing a path of peace -- or pursuing a path that's best described as intransigent and aggressive.

    Press Briefing By Joe Lockhart ITY National Archives 1999

  • And not for nothing should they grieve, namely the intransigent refusal of the Indian and Pakistani governments to have a real conversation toward deescalation.

    CounterPunch 2009

  • Henry, my view is not "intransigent" as you claim.

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009

  • DOBBS: I just wondered if it had come up because it would seem to be, to me at least, an appropriate remedy for that kind of intransigent failure to fulfill a responsibility to our service members in this country.

    CNN Transcript May 9, 2008 2008

  • Let us take the arguments of La Civiltà Cattolica, the "intransigent" Jesuit journal published in Rome after 1850, as an example of the critique I am relating.

    An Introductory Anti-Capitalist Manifesto 2007

  • Cape's Association for Community and Rural Advancement, who said that his organisation followed whatever government process to the letter of the law, so that "extreme actions" such as land occupations would be justified if government was "intransigent".

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2003

  • The Angolan rebel UNITA organization accused the Angolan president Monday of being "intransigent" in his stance of propogating and continuing war in the country.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2001

  • Johannesburg, Harel said selling weapons to an "intransigent"

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1997

Comments

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  • unwilling to change one's beliefs or course of action

    Despite many calls for mercy, the judge remained intransigent, citing strict legal precedence.

    October 19, 2016