Recalcitrant Definition

rĭ-kălsĭ-trənt
adjective
Refusing to obey authority, custom, regulation, etc.; stubbornly defiant.
Webster's New World
Hard to handle or deal with.
Webster's New World
Resistant to chemical decomposition; decomposing extremely slowly.
American Heritage

Difficult to deal with or to operate.

Wiktionary
Wiktionary
noun
A recalcitrant person.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Recalcitrant

Noun

Singular:
recalcitrant
Plural:
recalcitrants

Origin of Recalcitrant

  • Late Latin recalcitrāns recalcitrant- present participle of recalcitrāre to be disobedient from Latin to deny access re- re- calcitrāre to kick (from calx calc- heel)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient").

    From Wiktionary

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