adamant

¹ad·a·mant

noun \ˈa-də-mənt, -ˌmant\

Definition of ADAMANT

1

: a stone (as a diamond) formerly believed to be of impenetrable hardness

2

: an unbreakable or extremely hard substance

Origin of ADAMANT

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin adamant-, adamas hardest metal, diamond, from Greek

First Known Use: 14th century

Rhymes with ADAMANT

commandant, complaisant, confidant, confidante, cormorant, corposant, Corybant, covenant, dilettante, disenchant, gallivant, hierophant, interplant, pitcher plant, power plant, rubber plant, spider plant, sycophant

²ad·a·mant

adjective \ˈa-də-mənt, -ˌmant\

Definition of ADAMANT

: unshakable or insistent especially in maintaining a position or opinion : unyielding

— ad·a·mant·ly adverb

Examples of ADAMANT

1. We've tried to talk him into coming with us, but he's adamant about staying here.
2. <remained adamant about getting the actor's autograph even after he had disappeared backstage>
3. I am keen not to share my genetic code with my insurer, I am keen that my doctor should know it and use it, but I am adamant to the point of fanaticism that it is my decision. —Matt Ridley, Genome, 1999
4. Arrive to find child physically intact but … adamant that he will not remain another minute in Ski Bunny program. Despite their ‘professionalism,’ staff members eagerly concur. —Christopher Buckley, New Yorker, 10 Mar. 1997
5. In the years following the First World War, the debts of our wartime allies and others came to be considered a serious burden on international commerce and well-being. Calvin Coolidge was adamant on repayment. —John Kenneth Galbraith, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 1986

Origin of ADAMANT

(see ¹adamant)

First Known Use: 1897

Related to ADAMANT

Synonyms

obstinate, adamantine, bullheaded, dogged, hard, hardened, hardheaded, hard-nosed, headstrong, immovable, implacable, inconvincible, inflexible, intransigent, mulish, obdurate, opinionated, ossified, pat, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, self-opinionated, self-willed, stiff-necked, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful (or wilful)

Antonyms

acquiescent, agreeable, amenable, compliant, complying, flexible, pliable, pliant, relenting, yielding

Related Words

anal-retentive, obsessive; wayward, wrongheaded; determined, hell-bent, inexorable, persistent, relentless, resolved, set, single-minded, steadfast, stouthearted, tenacious, unflinching; firm, hard-line, hard-shell (or hard-shelled), iron, severe, stern, strict; hidebound, narrow-minded, rigid; bloody-minded [chiefly British], cantankerous; contrary, cussed; contumacious, disobedient, froward, insubordinate, intractable, recalcitrant, refractory, uncooperative, ungovernable, unmanageable, unruly; defiant, insurgent, mutinous; indomitable, invincible, unconquerable; confirmed, inveterate, unregenerate; demanding, exacting

Near Antonyms

docile, obedient, placable, submissive, tractable; accepting, persuadable, receptive, responsive, willing; governable, manageable, reasonable, temperate; slavish, subservient

See Synonym Discussion at inflexible