Word of the Day
: December 8, 2015adamantine
playWhat It Means
1 : made of or having the quality of adamant
2 : rigidly firm : unyielding
3 : resembling the diamond in hardness or luster
adamantine in Context
The ushers were adamantine in their refusal to let latecomers into the theater.
"Lampard and Pirlo have been adamantine, but even Lampard fell prey to injury this past season." — Rafael Noboa y Rivera, Hudson River Blue, 17 June 2015
Did You Know?
The Greek and Latin word for the hardest imaginable substance, whether applied to a legendary stone or an actual substance, such as diamond, was adamas. Latin poets used the term figuratively for things lasting, firm, or unbending, and the adjective adamantinus was used in similar contexts. The English noun adamant (meaning "an unbreakable or extremely hard substance"), as well as the adjective adamant (meaning "inflexible" or "unyielding"), came from adamas. Adamantine, which also has such figurative uses as "rigid," "firm," and "unyielding," came from adamantinus. Adamas is actually the source of diamond as well. Diamas, the Latin term for diamond, was an alteration of adamas.
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Test Your Memory
Fill in the blank in this sentence from our November 22nd Word of the Day: "The explosion of a supernova leaves behind a ______ from which, upon cooling, new stars and planets may develop."
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