obdurate

In a sentence.

1. 01

   The committee remained obdurate despite the new evidence.

2. 02

   He was obdurate about keeping the old sign.

Where it came from.

Obdurate traces to Latin obdurare, ‘to harden,’ from durus, ‘hard.’ The figurative sense describes a mind or heart that will not bend.

Why it’s interesting.

Its root captures the physical feeling of resistance: an obdurate stance is hard, not merely uncertain.