intransigent
/ɪnˈtransɪdʒ(ə)nt
/adjective
Unwilling or refusing to change one’s views or to agree about something: her father had tried persuasion, but she was intransigent...
- ‘We put a number of scenarios to them to try and get something in the package for everybody but they were very intransigent, they refused to move,’ he said.
- It would be politically expedient to withdraw them, but the reason for their presence is an intransigent regime that refuses to do anything to allay suspicions that it is developing weapons of mass destruction.
- But this particular play with the dualities of public and private, viewer and viewed, in the intransigent space of a commercial gallery, fell short of an emancipatory vision.
Synonyms
uncompromising, inflexible, unbending, unyielding, unshakeable, unwavering, resolute, unpersuadable, unmalleable, unaccommodating, uncooperative, stubborn, obstinate, obdurate, pig-headed, bull-headed, single-minded, iron-willed, hard-line, hard and fast, diehard, immovable, unrelenting, inexorable, inveterate, rigid, tough, firm, determined, adamant, tenacious
informal stiff-necked
British informal bloody-minded
North American informal balky, badass
rare indurate
noun
An intransigent person.Instead, the conclave of 1903 elected Pius X, whom the Italian government had dubbed ‘the most intransigent of the intransigents.’...
- This caused a major crisis for the Fascist Party, however, as thousands of new adherents rushed to jump on the bandwagon, and the rapid expansion in membership split the party into rival camps of moderates and intransigents.
- The tranquillity of the image is a proclamation of Ireland's return to peace after long years of armed conflict, first with the British and then with its own intransigents.
Derivatives
intransigency
- It is generally said that unionized teachers have worsened the educational climate rather improving it it because of their intransigency to advice from non-unionized seniors and students' parents.
- And, most important, how can Lula balance the pressing needs of a desperate Brazil with the intransigencies of the global market?
intransigently
/ adverb ...- It is a shame that the UN couldn't agree to a legally binding worldwide ban on reproductive cloning, simply because a small group of countries intransigently refused to allow countries to make up their own minds on therapeutic cloning.
- But, alas, such advisers still exist and, having sadly misled their customers, continue to intransigently argue the toss with august figures such as the chief financial ombudsman.
- The Local Board leaders have intransigently refused.
Origin
Late 19th century: from French intransigeant, from Spanish los intransigentes (a name adopted by the extreme republicans in the Cortes, 1873–4); based on Latin in- 'not' + transigere 'come to an understanding'.