Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Stubbornly resistant to or defiant of authority or guidance. synonym: obstinate.
- adjective Difficult to manage or deal with.
- adjective Resistant to chemical decomposition; decomposing extremely slowly.
- noun A recalcitrant person.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Refusing to submit; exhibiting repugnance or opposition; not submissive or compliant; refractory.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Kicking back; recalcitrating; hence, showing repugnance or opposition; refractory.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Marked by a
stubborn unwillingness toobey authority . - adjective
Unwilling tocooperate socially . - adjective Difficult to
deal with or tooperate . - noun A person who is recalcitrant.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective marked by stubborn resistance to authority
- adjective stubbornly resistant to authority or control
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The term "recalcitrant" reminds me of a time when the Australian Prim Minister Paul Keating referred to Malasia's Prim Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad as recalcitrant.
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But one theme that Chávez wove through the entire interview was the resurgence of the "transnational Right" -- or what he calls the recalcitrant right.
Greg Grandin: Hugo Chavez on Obama and the 'Recalcitrant Right' 2009
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Is there, or is there not, a brassbound plot to lead a chthonic jihad against those who oppose Mr. Livingston, organized through the years by what I call recalcitrant bludgers?
White Mob Disrupts Black Meeting Nathaniel Livingston 2005
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GOP is a good party, but some of its candidates have earned the distinction of bein 'recalcitrant and intractable, when it comes to managin' worldly affairs, as observed by us recently.
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Angus called his recalcitrant attention back to order.
One Night in Scotland Karen Hawkins 2010
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Citicorp, were once known as recalcitrant supporters of South
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The recalcitrant are a minority in all these things.
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It was thus that he posed before his council when, finding unexpected opposition, he undertook to impose his will upon them, and recall the recalcitrant members to their duty.
Crime d'Orcival. English ��mile Gaboriau 1852
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One spending sinkhole can be traced to large medical-equipment suppliers, device makers, and pharmaceutical companies, which government auditors and industry veterans describe as a recalcitrant bunch.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2009
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One spending sinkhole can be traced to large medical-equipment suppliers, device makers, and pharmaceutical companies, which government auditors and industry veterans describe as a recalcitrant bunch.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2009
bilby commented on the word recalcitrant
Paul Keating.
December 13, 2007
kewpid commented on the word recalcitrant
No, Mahathir Mohammed.
December 13, 2007
cranewang commented on the word recalcitrant
ree-KAL-see-trent
May 5, 2008
marc commented on the word recalcitrant
...By last week, this peculiar state of mind had not only sucked thousands of American oil wells dry, stripped the rubber groves of Malaya, produced the world's most inhuman industry and its most recalcitrant labor union, but had filled U.S. streets with so many automobiles that it was almost impossible to drive one...
The Last Traffic Jam, Time Magazine, December 15, 1947
June 7, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word recalcitrant
Useful to describe children. "Ma'am, I'm afraid your child has been quite recalcitrant."
August 19, 2008
super-logos commented on the word recalcitrant
The bears have been recalcitrant this summer.
August 19, 2008
super-labmaven commented on the word recalcitrant
"Words are as recalcitrant as circus animals, and the unskilled trainer can crack his whip at them in vain."
- Gerald Brenan
October 26, 2009
khatrigeo commented on the word recalcitrant
my authoritarian grandmother turns every servant recalcitrant
July 22, 2013
MaryW commented on the word recalcitrant
Thor Hanson, The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History (New York: Basic Books, 2015), endnote accompanying ch. 1, p. 11.
January 30, 2016
shanvrolijk commented on the word recalcitrant
"My one-and-a-half-times veiled (once by the sequestered school and another half by the head scarf), newly pious self appeared sufficiently recalcitrant."
Source: Putting on the Veil: Boys Invade an All-Girls School
January 22, 2018