headstrong

headstrong

adjective

Definition of HEADSTRONG

1

given to resisting control or discipline by others <a headstrong child who likes to test the limits of his parents' patience>

Synonyms froward, headstrong, incontrollable, intractable, recalcitrant, refractory, ungovernable, unmanageable, unruly, untoward, wayward, willful (or wilful)

Related Words bullheaded, contrary, difficult, hardheaded, incorrigible, intransigent, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, perverse, pigheaded, self-willed, stiff, stiff-necked, stubborn; undisciplined, unpunished; uncontrolled, wild; boisterous, irrepressible, rambunctious, rowdy; disobedient, indocile, insubordinate, rebellious; misbehaving, naughty

Near Antonyms docile, obedient, well-behaved; compliant, placable, pliable, submissive, yielding; accepting, persuadable, receptive, responsive, willing; reasonable, temperate, trainable

Antonyms controllable, governable, manageable, tractable

2

sticking to an opinion, purpose, or course of action in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion <the tenants of the building remain headstrong in their determination not to be evicted by the developer>

Synonyms adamant, 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)

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

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