Main Entry:

re·cal·ci·trant

Pronunciation:

\-trənt\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Late Latin recalcitrant-, recalcitrans, present participle of recalcitrare to be stubbornly disobedient, from Latin, to kick back, from re- + calcitrare to kick, from calc-, calx heel

Date:

1843

1: obstinately defiant of authority or restraint2 a: difficult to manage or operate b: not responsive to treatment c: resistant <this subject is recalcitrant both to observation and to experiment — G. G. Simpson>

synonyms see unruly

— recalcitrant noun