adamant

adamant
adamant
Its use as an adjective meaning ‘stubbornly unshakeable or inflexible’ is surprisingly recent (1930s); as a noun meaning a hard rock or mineral it goes back to the time of King Alfred, originally as a vague term often imbued with fabulous associations, and later as a synonym for ‘diamond’. In modern use the noun is ‘only a poetical or rhetorical name for the embodiment of surpassing hardness’, and the adjective is the principal use

• (His appointment had met with the adamant opposition of almost all the Fellows —Tom Sharpe, 1974)

also giving rise to an adverb adamantly

• (When she mentions him at all in her diary, it is in adamantly negative terms —S. Quinn, 1988).


Modern English usage. 2014.

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  • Adamant — Adamant, Adamas, Adamantit, Adamantium oder ähnliche Wörter bezeichnen ein fiktives, sehr hartes Mineral, Kristall oder Metall bzw. einen ebenso robusten (Halb )Edelstein. Ebenso wie Diamant und Adamantan, lässt sich das Wort „Adamant“ vom griech …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Adamant — Área no incorporada de los Estados Unidos …   Wikipedia Español

  • Adamant — Ad a*mant ([a^]d [.a]*m[a^]nt), n. [OE. adamaunt, adamant, diamond, magnet, OF. adamant, L. adamas, adamantis, the hardest metal, fr. Gr. ada mas, antos; a priv. + dama^,n to tame, subdue. In OE., from confusion with L. adamare to love, be… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • adamant — ADAMÁNT, adamante, s.n. (pop.) Diamant (1). – Din sl. adamantŭ. Trimis de ana zecheru, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DEX 98  ADAMÁNT s. v. diamant. Trimis de siveco, 13.09.2007. Sursa: Sinonime  adamánt s. n., pl …   Dicționar Român

  • adamant — [adj1] unyielding determined, firm, fixed, hanging tough*, hard nosed, immovable, inexorable, inflexible, insistent, intransigent, obdurate, pat*, relentless, resolute, rigid, set, set in stone*, standing pat*, stiff, stubborn, unbendable,… …   New thesaurus

  • adamant — I adjective callous, firm, frozen, hard hearted, immovable, immutable, implacable, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intractable, irreconcilable, merciless, obdurate, persistent, pertinacious, resolute, rigid, stationary, stiff, stubborn, tough …   Law dictionary

  • adamant — adamant, adamantine obdurate, inexorable, *inflexible Analogous words: unyielding, unsubmitting (see affirmative verbs at YIELD): immovable, immobile (see affirmative adjectives at MOVABLE): *grim, implacable, unrelenting Antonyms: yielding… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • adamant — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ refusing to be persuaded or to change one s mind. DERIVATIVES adamantly adverb. ORIGIN Greek adamas untameable, invincible …   English terms dictionary

  • adamant — [ad′ə mənt, ad′əmant΄] n. [ME & OFr < L adamas (gen. adamantis), the hardest metal < Gr adamas (gen. adamantos) < a , not + daman, to subdue: see TAME] 1. in ancient times, a hard stone or substance that was supposedly unbreakable 2. Old …   English World dictionary

  • Adamant — Adamantand similar words are used to refer to any especially hard substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal. Both adamant and diamond derive from the Greek word αδαμας ( adamas ), meaning untameable .… …   Wikipedia

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