# stubborn

Pronunciation: US say "STUB-urn" /ˈstʌbɚn/; UK say "STUB-uhn" /ˈstʌbən/

## Adjective

1. Refusing to move or change one's opinion; obstinately resisting persuasion and persisting in a chosen course of action.
   - Simple: Not willing to change your mind, even when other people try hard to make you.
   - _The negotiator grew stubborn the moment he sensed he was being pressured._
   - _Their stubborn refusal to compromise dragged the dispute on for years._
3. Of a material: physically stiff and inflexible, and not easily melted or worked into a desired shape.
   - Simple: Hard to bend, melt, or shape because the material is so stiff.
   - _The alloy proved stubborn under the hammer, refusing to take the smith's intended form._
   - _Cast iron is stubborn stuff, resisting most attempts to reshape it once it has cooled._
4. Of a thing or problem: difficult to get rid of, treat or alter, and tending to last.
   - Simple: Hard to get rid of, fix or change, said about a thing or a problem.
   - _Economists warned that stubborn inflation could keep interest rates high for another year._
   - _Even after a month of antibiotics, the stubborn infection would not clear up._

## Noun

2. The trait of being unwilling to change one's mind or give way; sheer obstinacy. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The habit of refusing to change your mind or give in to anyone.
   - _You have to admire the sheer stubborn it took to rebuild after losing everything._
   - _There's a streak of pure stubborn running through that whole family._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Short for stubborn disease: a disease of citrus trees, caused by the bacterium Spiroplasma citri, that stunts them and yields small, lopsided fruit.

## Origin

From Middle English stiborne (also spelled stibourne, stoburn, and other forms), of uncertain origin. One hypothesis is that it derives from an unattested Old English *stybbor, from stybb ('a stump, stub') plus the adjective-forming suffix -or (as in bitor, which gave English bitter).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stubborn (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).