recalcitrant
pronunciation
How to pronounce recalcitrant in British English:
UK [rɪˈkælsɪtrənt]
How to pronounce recalcitrant in American English:
US [rɪˈkælsɪtrənt]
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- Adjective:
- marked by stubborn resistance to and defiant of authority or guidance
- marked by stubborn resistance to authority
Word Origin
- recalcitrant
- recalcitrant: [19] People who are recalcitrant are etymologically ‘kicking back’ against whatever restrains or upsets them. The word was borrowed from French récalcitrant, a descendant of the present participle of Latin recalcitrāre ‘kick back’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and calcitrāre ‘kick’, which in turn was derived from Latin calx ‘heel’.
- recalcitrant (adj.)
- 1823, from French récalcitrant, literally "kicking back" (17c.-18c.), past participle of recalcitrare "to kick back; be inaccessible," from re- "back" (see re-) + Latin calcitrare "to kick," from calx (genitive calcis) "heel." Used from 1797 as a French word in English.
Example
- 1. It is much harder for american shareholders , for example , to force out recalcitrant directors .
- 2. Even the recalcitrant car-crash simulations , he thinks , will yield to the new approach soon .
- 3. He rightly scolded recalcitrant israelis for their refusal even to accept the idea of two independent states and for letting jewish settlers continue to build or expand towns and villages on the west bank .
- 4. Brussels is up for a fight both with the markets and with recalcitrant national governments .
- 5. A recalcitrant mayor has been arrested .