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recalcitrant

UK/ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/US/ɹɪˈkæl.sɪ.tɹənt/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,753 of 15,258leans written

Recalcitrant means resisting authority and refusing to co-operate. A recalcitrant pupil, recalcitrant members, recalcitrant and rude.

It is used from above, since the word assumes an authority somebody ought to be obeying. The Latin means kicking back with the heels, which is what a horse does, and the image is exactly right.

Definitions of recalcitrant

  1. 1adjectiverecalcitrantResisting authority and refusing to co-operate.C2

    “The teacher sent the recalcitrant pupils to the head's office.”

recalcitrant is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin recalcitrare means to kick back, from re- plus calx, a heel.

  1. Latin

    recalcitrans

  2. French

    récalcitrant

  3. English, today

    recalcitrant

Built from

  • recalcitro · Latin — be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]
  • calx · Latin — heel

French récalcitrant, in Latin recalcitrans, present participle of recalcitro (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

recalcitrant in the wild

  • Generally speaking, most tropical pioneer species have orthodox seeds but many climax species have recalcitrant or intermediate seeds.

    Recalcitrant seed

  • Equipped with 15in wheels and vented disc brakes as well as a larger engine, the 40 was just as recalcitrant as the 30.

    Lotus 30

  • Orthodox seeds are seeds which will survive drying and/or freezing during ex situ conservation, as opposed to recalcitrant seeds, which will not.

    Orthodox seed

  • When William the Conqueror asserted sovereignty over England in 1066, he confiscated the property of the recalcitrant English landowners.

    Land tenure in England

  • At the time the human reference was initially described, it was clear that some regions were recalcitrant to analysis with existing technology, leaving gaps in the known sequence.

    Genome Reference Consortium

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the calx family

calciumcalculus

recalcitrant — used about once every 27,725 pages · #13,753 · point at the bar for the others