Definitions

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

  • noun recalcitrance.

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

  • noun the trait of being unmanageable

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

In use since at least 1869 (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, published 1985).

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Examples

  • So matters were allowed to rest until, with the advent to power of the present Government, the lacuna, which owing to the recalcitrancy of Mr. Justice Madden, had been left in the public information on the problem by the omission of Trinity from the Robertson report, was filled up by the appointment of a new Royal Commission.

    Ireland and the Home Rule Movement Michael F. J. McDonnell

  • The policeman attributed this demeanor to recalcitrancy.

    Heart of the Blue Ridge Waldron Baily

  • The ministers, surprised and indignant at his recalcitrancy, raised a rebellion, but were defeated with great slaughter, and thus by his spirited conduct the king freed himself from the tyranny of his councillors and established a new precedent for the guidance of his successors.

    Chapter 24. The Killing of the Divine King. § 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails 1922

  • Lightener, for Lightener had befriended Bonbright in his recalcitrancy.

    Youth Challenges Clarence Budington Kelland 1922

  • The ministers, surprised and indignant at his recalcitrancy, raised a rebellion, but were defeated with great slaughter, and thus by his spirited conduct the king freed himself from the tyranny of his councillors and established a new precedent for the guidance of his successors.

    The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion 1922

  • If they do not operate, the blame is put not on the subject as taught, but on the indifference and recalcitrancy of pupils.

    democracy and Education : an Introduction to the Philosophy of Education 1916

  • Three of the five goals made by the second team fell to his mallet, and he left the field heartily cursed on all sides for his recalcitrancy in throwing himself away on work when the sport of sports called him.

    Success A Novel Samuel Hopkins Adams 1914

  • For him in his recalcitrancy there was only a younger son's portion, the little seigneury of Eaucourt, which had been his mother's.

    The Path of the King John Buchan 1907

  • If they do not operate, the blame is put not on the subject as taught, but on the indifference and recalcitrancy of pupils.

    Democracy and Education: an introduction to the philosophy of education John Dewey 1905

  • To the importance of mind-cure the medical and clerical professions in the United States are beginning, though with much recalcitrancy and protesting, to open their eyes.

    The Varieties of Religious Experience 1902

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