unyielding

1 showing no signs of slackening or yielding in one's purpose the pioneers faced the challenge of settling the frontier with unyielding courage Synonyms determined, dogged, grim, implacable, relentless, unappeasable, unflinching, unrelenting Related Words persevering, persistent, tenacious; hard, hardheaded, headstrong, intractable, mulish, obdurate, opinionated, peevish, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, self-willed, stubborn, uncooperative, willful (or wilful); merciless, ruthless, unforgiving Near Antonyms slackening, softening, yielding; impotent, invertebrate, slack, spineless, weak; complaisant, obliging, pliable, pliant

2 having a consistency that does not easily yield to pressure knead the dough until it feels reasonably unyielding Synonyms compact, hard, rigid, solid, stiff, firmRelated Words case-hardened, compacted, compressed, hardened, indurated, stiffened, tempered; close, dense, heavy, thick, thickset; inelastic, inflexible, ramrod, unbending; compressed, condensed; adamantine, rocklike; sturdy, substantial; impenetrable, impermeable, nonporousNear Antonyms loose, scattered, thin; bendable, elastic, flexible, malleable, pliable, pliant, supple; droopy, flaccid, floppy, lank, limp, slack; airy, light; permeable, porous; ultrasoftAntonyms flabby, soft, spongy, squashy, squishy

3 incapable of or highly resistant to bending an unyielding steel bar Synonyms inflexible, rigid, stiffened, stiffRelated Words inelastic; firm, hard, solid, sound, strong; brittle, crisp; compact, dense, substantial; arthritic, rheumatic; nonelastic, nonmalleableNear Antonyms elastic, resilient, springy, stretchy, workable; malleable, plastic; semiflexible; droopy, flabby, flaccid, mushy, semisoft, soft, squashy, squishy; lank, limber, limp, lissome (also lissom), lithe, lithesome, willowyAntonyms flexible, floppy, pliable, pliant, supple, yielding

4 sticking to an opinion, purpose, or course of action in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion despite studies showing that limits on development would hurt the local economy, the town council remained unyielding in their support for these limits 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, obstinate, 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, exactingNear Antonyms docile, obedient, placable, submissive, tractable; accepting, persuadable, receptive, responsive, willing; governable, manageable, reasonable, temperate; slavish, subservientAntonyms acquiescent, agreeable, amenable, compliant, complying, flexible, pliable, pliant, relenting, yielding