How to Use obdurate in a Sentence

obdurate

adjective
  • He is known for his obdurate determination.
  • Her photograph shows an aged and obdurate man with a tinge of uncertainty in his face.
    — Philip Gefter, The New Yorker, 12 Feb. 2017
  • But Vučić has remained obdurate.
    — Hanna Begić, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Whatever regime emerges could well be even more radical and obdurate.
    — Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 8 Feb. 2025
  • Despite the deluge of new data, the megaliths had given up none of their obdurate strangeness.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
  • This is not to say that the US agriculture sector is no longer plagued by obdurate problems.
    — Raghav Simha, Quartz India, 17 Feb. 2021
  • Concrete represents one of the world’s most obdurate carbon problems.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2022
  • Again, the works’ key success is formal, as an effect of obdurate density and jagged animation.
    — Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 9 Nov. 2020
  • Or perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to become obdurate, go weird and dive into the B-sides and deep cuts.
    — Daniel Dylan Wray, Pitchfork, 5 Nov. 2025
  • But can empathy wholly compensate for an ingrained point of view, a nexus of obdurate personal bias and cherished belief?
    — Adam Begley, The Atlantic, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Those are just the most obdurate employers, says David Woods, the union’s secretary-treasurer.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2022
  • Yet Mr Kurz’s obdurate stance on borders is now conventional wisdom across the EU.
    — The Economist, 19 Oct. 2017
  • This week’s roundup of progress stories includes evidence that the needle can move on even the most obdurate problems, from sewage pollution to human trafficking.
    — Lindsey McGinnis, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 Mar. 2021
  • Ink and paint veer between obdurate opacity and delicate transparency.
    — New York Times, 19 Aug. 2021
  • But there is no moment, and Updike the novelist recognizes that there is something obdurate about the historical record.
    — WSJ, 13 Oct. 2017
  • Such reluctance to take nuclear weapons off the table mistakes an obdurate lack of imagination for principle.
    — Andre Pagliarini, The New Republic, 16 Apr. 2021
  • In Cleveland, Jordano caught something else —an obdurate grit and a restrained dignity amid poverty and decline.
    — Steven Litt, cleveland, 27 Sep. 2020
  • Possibly this was the case at élite law schools in the nineteen-nineties, where even the most obdurate deans could not afford to ignore their militant students indefinitely.
    — Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
  • By the spring of 1945, with Germany defeated, the Allies turned to an obdurate Japan.
    — Peter Englund, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023
  • The chorus sings of the Plague of Thebes over five darkly screaming chords in the key of B-flat minor, with an obdurate bass line grating against the upper harmonies.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 June 2021
  • But there is a special satisfaction in what appears to be Giuliani’s obdurate inability to refrain from this type of behavior.
    — Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 13 Dec. 2019
  • Now the territory’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, obdurate for weeks in the face of the protesters’ demands, has changed her tune.
    — The Economist, 5 Sep. 2019
  • Indeed, Messi thought that was his team's problem as Argentina struggled to find a way through Mexico's obdurate defense in the first hour of the match.
    — Steve Douglas, ajc, 27 Nov. 2022
  • Imposter syndrome is a phenomenon that happens inside your head, often accompanied by narration by a rather obdurate inner voice.
    — Gary Crotaz, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2023
  • The camera often pans to the obdurate face of an office clock, showing time frozen but also inexorably passing—the burning fuse of Chow and Su’s relationship.
    — Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Erdogan’s most hardcore advocates brushed off the losses in big cities, insisting that the slim margin was due to campaign blunders or the obdurate views of opposition party voters.
    — Kareem Fahim, Washington Post, 4 May 2017
  • On Friday, the Huskies will face Notre Dame (33-3), a familiar and obdurate opponent.
    — Jeré Longman, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2018
  • When team members or individual personalities try to be obdurate and disturb the team conversation, the team coach will need to maintain composure under such circumstances.
    — Jedidiah Alex Koh, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2021
  • She was largely paralyzed from the neck down but just as obdurate as ever, wanting Sri to be the one to feed her, administer her fentanyl patch, bathe her and change her diaper, even though Sri had hired a home health aide to help.
    — Noy Thrupkaew, Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2021
  • To judge, though, by Price’s remarks to the Boston press corps Saturday night, his first since the Eckersley story came to light, he is simply entitled, thick and obdurate.
    — Jack Dickey, SI.com, 30 July 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'obdurate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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