What's the difference between obdurate and stubborn?

Obdurate


Definition:

  • (a.) Hardened in feelings, esp. against moral or mollifying influences; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubbornly wicked.
  • (a.) Hard; harsh; rugged; rough; intractable.
  • (v. t.) To harden.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The system is not an obdurate one-man rule, but a balancing of power groups, including the military, government and internal security, all have different interests and policies.
  • (2) Both the Coalition and Labor are obdurately stuck with barbaric offshore detention policies, as though sensible, humane and politically viable alternatives are beyond them.
  • (3) For their part, the Israeli left accused Peres of acting as a figleaf for an obdurate Likud administration.
  • (4) Report on the temporary substitution of pharynx and upper oesophagus with synthetic skin substitute in case of incurable obdurating neck carcinoma.
  • (5) His team-mates were obdurate opponents in every respect.
  • (6) The fact that it was Johnson rather than Crow who had been obdurate was highlighted by the fact that TfL had all along planned to retain ticket-selling facilities at several busy stations, but, prompted by Johnson, had publicly suggested that they would all be closed.
  • (7) For the first time there were obvious signs of tension and, suddenly, this tough, obdurate West Bromwich side showed an attacking intent that simply had not been there earlier in the match.
  • (8) In the face of obdurate unreason, the president of hyper-reasonableness was forced to surrender.
  • (9) Underpinning the witty remarks and the textbook flippancy ("call me early, Goering dear, for I'm to be Queen of the May" was apparently Nancy's riposte to news of Diana and Unity's German adventures) though, was an absolute and obdurate self-belief; a self-possessed seriousness only partly disguised by sisterly teasing.
  • (10) Max from Earlsfield muses: "Admittedly terrible from Fab, a shame after 47 minutes of obdurate defence.
  • (11) This was a slog, a result ground out against ruggedly obdurate opposition , but Chelsea may end up gaining more satisfaction from prevailing in those awkward circumstances than from some of the more comfortable strolls they have enjoyed over a nine-match winning streak.
  • (12) Read more It was the third minute of stoppage time, and the cruellest of circumstances for this tough, obdurate Burnley side, when Arsenal’s possession finally paid off and the seemingly endless 20th-anniversary commemorations for Arsène Wenger were given a shot of euphoria that had not seemed like coming.
  • (13) Ireland were obdurate opponents but that does not fully explain the lack of quality that held back England once Frank Lampard had scored the 29th goal of his international career, 10 minutes after Shane Long's expertly taken header had given Giovanni Trapattoni's side an early lead.
  • (14) Russia's determination to defend wider spheres of traditional influence in the non-aligned and developing world can be seen in its obdurate refusal to penalise Syria, in the face of almost universal outrage over the crackdown there; and in its de facto defence of Iran's nuclear programme.
  • (15) It had needed some obdurate defending to keep the score down before Alves exchanged passes with the substitute Neymar and cut in from the right to slip his shot through Hart's legs.
  • (16) Republicans have been both obdurate and obtuse in Congress, where approval ratings have rarely scraped 20%.
  • (17) He is assertive (he insists on his photographer and dictates the terms of the interview), obdurate and, at times, wilfully contrary.
  • (18) We had an obdurate Labor party, a feckless Senate and a very difficult media culture,” Abbott said.
  • (19) In the years since those facts first became known, the story of the Holocaust has been told and retold, yet it still remains obdurately difficult to tell.
  • (20) Giles also remained obdurate and continued to refuse to resign even though he had only four supporters as against the conspirators’ nine.

Stubborn


Definition:

  • (a.) Firm as a stub or stump; stiff; unbending; unyielding; persistent; hence, unreasonably obstinate in will or opinion; not yielding to reason or persuasion; refractory; harsh; -- said of persons and things; as, stubborn wills; stubborn ore; a stubborn oak; as stubborn as a mule.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It has announced a four-stage programme of reforms that will tackle most of these stubborn and longstanding problems, including Cinderella issues such as how energy companies treat their small business customers.
  • (2) Of course there are some who are stubborn, like Robert Mugabe.
  • (3) The prime minister insisted, however, that he and other world leaders were not being stubborn over demands that the Syrian leader, President Bashar al-Assad, step down at the end of the peace process.
  • (4) It’s clear their relationship is most similar to that of a stubborn son and his long suffering mother.
  • (5) The contrast between these two worlds – one legal and flourishing, the other illegal and stubbornly disregarding of state lines – can seem baffling, yet it may have profound consequences for whether this unique experiment spreads.
  • (6) The causes of failure after acute injury include extensive local soft tissue and bony damage, severe concomitant head, chest or abdominal wounding, stubborn reliance on negative arteriograms in patients with probable arterial injury, failure to repair simultaneous venous injuries, or harvesting of a vein graft from a severely damaged extremity.
  • (7) "It was the character of David Cameron – his stubbornness, his anger and his rush towards war – which was the central cause of his defeat on Thursday night."
  • (8) Rebus, promised the Scottish author, will be "as stubborn and anarchic as ever", and will find himself in trouble with the author's latest creation, Malcolm Fox, of Edinburgh's internal affairs unit.
  • (9) A rising jobless total and an unemployment rate sticking at a stubbornly high 8% overshadowed a better than expected 27,100 fall in the claimant count in April, which compared with analysts' forecasts for a 20,000 drop.
  • (10) But the part of me that resists that, that is stubborn and wants to bulldoze things, gets in my way.
  • (11) One is the stubborn mystery of how a giant of its liberation movements, an intellectual who showed forgiveness and magnanimity years before Mandela emerged from jail, could turn into the living caricature of despotism.
  • (12) Sanctioning is no longer a last resort tactic aimed at the stubbornly workshy, say critics, but a crude way of pushing down claimant numbers and cutting back on the benefits bill.
  • (13) He was only 29 at the time, but nevertheless had that kind of stubborn certainty.
  • (14) They have a sort of stubbornness.” He later deals with hecklers at a Fifa HQ press event : “Listen, gentlemen, we are not in a bazaar .
  • (15) Dombrovskis stubbornly refused, instead pursuing "internal devaluation", depressing wages and conducting what he says was a 17% fiscal adjustment programme (the IMF says 15%).
  • (16) They formed a stubborn line in front of Wojciech Szczesny’s goal even if the statistics showed Arsenal’s pass-completion rate went down from 89% in the first half to 66% in the second.
  • (17) This was the first time a grouping of BME senior managers crossing health and social care had met together to look at barriers to gaining top jobs, and ways of breaking through systems which stubbornly never seem to shift.
  • (18) Broadly defined, this sort of behaviour involves procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, obstructionism, self-pity and a tendency to create chaotic situations.
  • (19) At which point – obviously – you reach the stubborn limits of the debate: from even the most supposedly imaginative Labour people as much as any Tories, such heresies would presumably be greeted with sneering derision.
  • (20) A stubborn negativity characterised the insurrection.