obdurate Meaning, Definition & Usage

adjective satellite stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
unrepentant; obstinate; cussed.
adjective satellite showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings
flint; flinty; granitic; stony.
- his flinty gaze
- the child's misery would move even the most obdurate heart

L. obduratus, p. p. of obdurare to harden; ob (see Ob-)+ durare to harden, durus hard. See Dure.

Hardened in feelings, esp. against moral or mollifying influences; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubbornly wicked.
The very custom of evil makes the heart obdurate against whatsoever instructions to the contrary. Hooker.

Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth? Shak.
Hard; harsh; rugged; rough; intractable. "Obdurate consonants." Swift. ✍ Sometimes accented on the second syllable, especially by the older poets.
There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. Cowper.
Syn. -- Hard; firm; unbending; inflexible; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; impenitent; callous; unfeeling; insensible; unsusceptible. -- Obdurate, Callous, Hardened. Callous denotes a deadening of the sensibilities; as. a callous conscience. Hardened implies a general and settled disregard for the claims of interest, duty, and sympathy; as, hardened in vice. Obdurate implies an active resistance of the heart and will aganst the pleadings of compassion and humanity. -- Ob"du*rate*ly adv. -- Ob"du*rate*ness, n.