DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Ob·du·rate a.
 1. 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.
 2. Hard; harsh; rugged; rough; intractable. “Obdurate consonants.”
 Note: ☞ 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.
 Usage: -- 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.