Synonyms for recalcitrant
rɪˈkæl sɪ trəntre·cal·ci·trant

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. recalcitrantadjective

   Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority.

   Synonyms:
   disobedient, argumentative

   Antonyms:
   compliant, obedient

2. recalcitrantadjective

   Difficult to deal with or to operate.

   Synonyms:
   stubborn, unruly

   Antonyms:
   cooperative, amenable, eager

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. recalcitrant

   Balky, mulish, obstinate, and stubborn are synonyms of restive only in an infrequent if not obsolete use; the supposed sense of "tending to rest," "standing stubbornly still," is scarcely supported by any examples, and those cited to support that meaning often fail to do so. The disposition to offer active resistance to control by any means whatever is what is commonly indicated by restive in the best English speech and literature. Dryden speaks of "the pampered colt" as "restiff to the rein;" but the rein is not used to propel a horse forward, but to hold him in, and it is against this that he is "restiff." A horse may be made restless by flies or by martial music, but with no refractoriness; the restive animal impatiently resists or struggles to break from control, as by bolting, flinging his rider, or otherwise. With this the metaphorical use of the word agrees, which is always in the sense of such terms as impatient, intractable, rebellious, and the like; a people restive under despotism are not disposed to "rest" under it, but to resist it and fling it off.

   Synonyms:
   balky, fidgety, fractious, fretful, frisky, impatient, intractable, mulish, mutinous, obstinate, rebellious, refractory, resentful, restiff, restive, restless, skittish, stubborn, unruly, vicious

   Antonyms:
   docile, gentle, manageable, obedient, passive, peaceable, quiet, submissive, tractable, yielding

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fractious, refractory, recalcitrantadjective

   stubbornly resistant to authority or control

   "a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness"; "a refractory child"

   Synonyms:
   scratchy, techy, nettlesome, cranky, peevish, pettish, irritable, petulant, tetchy, refractory, testy, stubborn, peckish, fractious

   Antonyms:
   compliant, obedient

2. recalcitrantadjective

   marked by stubborn resistance to authority

   "the University suspended the most recalcitrant demonstrators"

   Synonyms:
   refractory, fractious

   Antonyms:
   compliant, obedient

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dickbag

   all dickbags are recalcitrant in nature.

   josh is a recalcitrant bastard, he never cooperates!

   Submitted by acronimous on February 27, 2014  

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "recalcitrant":

   dyed-in-the-wool, grudging, reluctant, unwilling, hard-line

How to pronounce recalcitrant?

How to say recalcitrant in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use recalcitrant in a sentence?

1. Stanley Young:

   They were recalcitrant, it was a range of issues. Every time it was something different.

2. Jalel Harchaoui:

   Beyond France's prestige and commercial opportunities, an effective French diplomacy must ask what levers it can use vis-à-vis recalcitrant actors, it seems this basic question is no longer being asked in Paris.

3. Jessica Vaughan:

   This is a serious problem that has been festering for years, but is getting worse as countries realize that they can get away with just refusing to accept back their citizens who are criminals, what is equally frustrating is that the Obama administration has continuously refused to use the tools that Congress has provided and the leverage that we have with many of the recalcitrant countries, even as the roster of victims from these criminal aliens grows longer every month.

4. Neal Katyal:

   While we continue to believe that this third version fails that test, there is no question that by striking down the first two travel bans, the judiciary forced a recalcitrant administration to at least give its order the veil of constitutionality, we continue to believe, as do four dissenting justices, that the travel ban is unconstitutional, unprecedented, unnecessary and un-American.

5. Sinan Ulgen:

   It will be seen as the party that has forced early elections on a recalcitrant Turkish electorate at a time when there are severe challenges, both from the security perspective and also economically, the drawback to this gambit for Erdogan is that if the AK Party ends up losing votes, we may start to see more open dissatisfaction about his influence.