obdurate
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 17 July 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 17, 2026 is:
obdurate • \AHB-duh-rut\ • adjective
Obdurate is a formal word that means "resistant to persuasion." It is usually used to describe someone who is not willing to change their methods or opinions, or something that is not easily altered.
// Though obdurate problems loom, the organization under its new leadership is poised to make real and effective changes.
Examples:
"... even great careers must end sometime, and as often as not against obdurate wills." — Greg Baum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 Dec. 2025
Did you know?
When trying to persuade someone who has an obdurate disposition, you may end up feeling rather dour about your ability to change their mind. To endure such encounters in the future, you may find that you need to be more durable and not let the person's mulishness get you down. Maybe you will find such situations less stressful if you can face them knowing that the words obdurate, dour, endure, and durable are etymological kissing cousins. All trace back to the Latin adjective durus, which means "hard."
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for July 17th. |
| 0:11.8 | Today's word is obdurate, spelled O-B-D-U-R-A-T-E. |
| 0:17.8 | Obdurate is an adjective. It's a formal word that means resistant to persuasion. |
| 0:23.6 | It's also usually used to describe someone who is not willing to change their methods or opinions |
| 0:28.8 | or something that is not easily altered. Here's the word used in a sentence from the Sydney Morning Herald. |
| 0:36.5 | Even great careers must end sometime, |
| 0:39.6 | and as often as not, against obdurate wills. |
| 0:43.6 | When trying to persuade someone who has an obdurate disposition, |
| 0:48.0 | you may end up feeling rather dower about your ability to change their mind. |
| 0:53.5 | To endure such encounters in the future, |
| 0:56.3 | you may find that you need to be more durable and not let the person's muleishness get you down. |
| 1:02.8 | Maybe you will find such situations less stressful if you can face them knowing that the words |
| 1:08.5 | obdurate, dower, endure, and durable, are etymological |
| 1:12.7 | kissing cousins, all trace back to the Latin adjective durus, which means hard. |
| 1:19.0 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:25.3 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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