Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

intransigent


Listen Later

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 21, 2024 is:

intransigent • \in-TRAN-suh-junt\  • adjective

Intransigent is a formal word that describes a person who refuses to compromise or abandon an often extreme position or attitude. It can also describe a thing, such as a system or point of view, that shows the same kind of stubbornness.

// Despite the mediator's best efforts, the opposing sides in the dispute remained intransigent.

See the entry >

Examples:

"Honey and vinegar, a traditional medicinal combination known as oxymel, dates to the ancient world. Apothecaries in the Middle Ages sold it, Hippocrates prescribed it and the physician-philosopher Ibn-Sīnā extolled its virtues. Today such a mixture sounds likelier to dress a salad than a lesion—but with antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the rise, scientists are eagerly seeking new ways to fight intransigent infections. Now a study in Microbiology suggests oxymel may indeed help." — Leo Deluca, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2023

Did you know?

Both intransigent and its younger sibling intransigence come to English from the Spanish adjective intransigente, meaning "uncompromising," and ultimately from the Latin verb transigere, "to come to an agreement." Knowing that many English words with the prefix in- have prefix-less antonyms, one might guess that transigent has its own place in our language. While this word does pop up occasionally in print, it is too uncommon at this point to qualify for entry in our dictionaries. Since intransigent is a Spanish borrowing, English transigent is considered a back-formation–that is, a word formed by subtraction of a real or supposed affix.



...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Merriam-Webster's Word of the DayBy Merriam-Webster

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

1,189 ratings


More shows like Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

View all
Speak English with ESLPod.com - Learn English Fast by ESLPod.com

Speak English with ESLPod.com - Learn English Fast

2,546 Listeners

TED Talks Daily by TED

TED Talks Daily

11,256 Listeners

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by QuickAndDirtyTips.com

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

2,821 Listeners

Science Quickly by Scientific American

Science Quickly

1,362 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,065 Listeners

Learn English | EnglishClass101.com by EnglishClass101.com

Learn English | EnglishClass101.com

861 Listeners

RealLife English: Learn and Speak Confident, Natural English by RealLife English

RealLife English: Learn and Speak Confident, Natural English

506 Listeners

All Ears English Podcast by Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan

All Ears English Podcast

2,307 Listeners

Daily Easy English Expression Podcast by Coach Shane

Daily Easy English Expression Podcast

847 Listeners

IELTS Energy English 7+ by Lindsay McMahon, Jessica Beck, Aubrey Carter

IELTS Energy English 7+

427 Listeners

Real English Conversations Podcast - Learn to Speak & Understand Real English with Confidence! by Real English Conversations: Amy Whitney & Curtis Davies - English Podcast

Real English Conversations Podcast - Learn to Speak & Understand Real English with Confidence!

403 Listeners

Speak English Now Podcast: Learn English | Speak English without grammar. by Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com

Speak English Now Podcast: Learn English | Speak English without grammar.

589 Listeners

American English Podcast by Shana Thompson

American English Podcast

577 Listeners

Confident Business English by Anna Connelly

Confident Business English

135 Listeners

Business English from All Ears English by Lindsay McMahon

Business English from All Ears English

80 Listeners