How to Use obstinate in a Sentence

obstinate

adjective
  • My parents remain as obstinate as ever.
  • The Dems just want to be obstinate at the cost to America.
    Fox News, 20 Apr. 2018
  • So the White House will have to weigh whether Pruitt can still advance the ball for the Trump agenda against the obstinate questions about his ethics.
    Umair Irfan, Vox, 12 Apr. 2018
  • Ed remains obstinate, but the other guys keep them from coming to blows.
    Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 18 Nov. 2020
  • Little is known about why Snyder is taking such an obstinate stance in the case of Sutton.
    Vahe Gregorian, kansascity.com, 2 June 2017
  • And those obstinate little gray bastards that sprung up all over my scalp needed to be evicted.
    Donna Freydkin, Allure, 30 Oct. 2017
  • When Kayla rode Tonka, the horse was still a bit obstinate and persnickety.
    Roy Bragg, San Antonio Express-News, 12 Apr. 2018
  • And the obstinate idiosyncrasies of his music were at times judged even more harshly.
    Seth Colter Walls, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2020
  • None of this is to say that Mr. Peltz isn’t a good investor, or that, in certain circumstances, obstinate companies don’t need change.
    Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, 17 July 2017
  • As two tiny eyes peer out from beneath the shell, short tentacles tickle the air, revealing a certain obstinate charm.
    Degen Pener, Los Angeles Magazine, 22 June 2018
  • One irritating or obstinate writer can bring the entire machinery of a show to a halt.
    Mike Reiss, WSJ, 25 May 2018
  • In the end, the obstinate forces of tradition and inertia stymied the administration’s move from Bankova Street.
    Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2019
  • Fleming's Bond is often described as cold, but the novels do offer a glimpse of his inner life -- his sense of duty, his moral courage, his obstinate resilience.
    Will Nevin, OregonLive.com, 14 July 2017
  • Ever obstinate nearly two centuries after his death, Beethoven still won’t roll over.
    Mark Swed, latimes.com, 8 June 2018
  • The facetious old turn of phrase that identifies schooling with the three Rs – reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic – may express the most obstinate block to change in education.
    Seymour Papert, WIRED, 1 Feb. 1993
  • The quiet but obstinate determination of a man who has decided to stay behind forms the center of Mr. Laurent’s film.
    Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2016
  • Taureans may find their horns locked with fellow obstinate signs Leos and Aquarians.
    Aliza Kelly Faragher, Allure, 27 Oct. 2017
  • All these gifts come with notes signed off with a smiley face, and an obstinate red bow that becomes something of an ominous symbol after the third successive casual drop-by.
    Tom Philip, GQ, 25 Mar. 2018
  • The process went smoothly until an obstinate 19th-century steamer trunk refused to open and reveal its insides.
    Domenica Bongiovanni, Indianapolis Star, 22 May 2018
  • Doing good self-care is different than just being obstinate and willful.
    Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive.com, 25 July 2019
  • Her life, shuttling between two obstinate men, starts to seem unsustainable.
    Rachel Syme, The New Republic, 24 Apr. 2018
  • After all, those of us born under the fifth astrological sign are known for being passionate, obstinate, and unbending, with a taste for the finer things and just a touch of the imperious.
    Adam Rathe, Town & Country, 12 Nov. 2019
  • Within 20 minutes, Lucy Dacus got me to take another look at my obstinate stance against the concept of unconditional love.
    Allure, 24 Apr. 2019
  • But Haley and Roethlisberger are the obstinate toddlers trying turning their heads every which way.
    Ryan Wooden, ajc, 8 Oct. 2017
  • Since the first cases here were diagnosed nearly five weeks ago, an obstinate equanimity has prevailed.
    Arthur Longworth, The New York Review of Books, 12 Apr. 2020
  • Since obstinate listing agents of this ilk do not care about their online reputation, your neighbor must hire a real estate attorney who does.
    Pat Kapowich, The Mercury News, 6 June 2019
  • Amazingly, managing the end of the Cold War and the international coalition that forced Saddam out of Kuwait had turned out to be less soul-sapping than trying to negotiate, over and over, with the obstinate right wing of his own party.
    Neil Swidey, BostonGlobe.com, 10 July 2018
  • Her mom spoke of Erica’s fiery spirit, her obstinate, aggressive belief in herself and her choices, and her unyielding love for her father.
    Angela Helm, The Root, 9 Jan. 2018
  • Bombastic and obstinate, Johnson's speeches were full of self-praise and contradictory claims of triumph.
    Steve Haycox, Alaska Dispatch News, 27 July 2017
  • Zelenskiy and Ukraine may be facing a similarly sensitive and obstinate government to the one the country confronted over the 2014 incident.
    Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'obstinate.' 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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