recalcitrant
Refusing to comply
Recalcitrant describes someone stubbornly resistant to authority or control: a recalcitrant teenager, recalcitrant witnesses who refused to testify.
The word implies active defiance rather than passive reluctance—a recalcitrant person pushes back.
It extends to things that resist treatment or correction: a recalcitrant stain, recalcitrant inflation.
Firmly refusing to yield
- headstrongStubbornly self-willed
- willfulIntentionally unyielding
- mulishStubbornly refusing to yield
- bullheadedStubbornly refusing to yield
pigheaded · hardheaded · stiff-necked · dogged · pertinacious · obdurate · unyielding · unbending
Resisting authority or control
- resistantWithstanding external forces
- disobedientRefusing to follow orders
- unrulyDifficult to control
- insubordinateDefying rightful authority
mutinous · contrary · noncompliant · dissenting · oppositional · wayward · contumacious · refractory
Requiring much effort
- uncontrollableImpossible to restrain
- ungovernableImpossible to control
- incorrigibleImpossible to reform
- troublesomeCausing difficulty or annoyance
problematic · unruly · wild · untamable · impossible · hopeless · irredeemable · unreformable
obstinate
Firmly refusing to yield
- headstrongStubbornly self-willed
- willfulIntentionally unyielding
- mulishStubbornly refusing to yield
bullheaded · pigheaded · hardheaded · stiff-necked · dogged · pertinacious · obdurate · unyielding · unbending · inflexible
rebellious
Resisting authority or control
- resistantWithstanding external forces
- disobedientRefusing to follow orders
- unrulyDifficult to control
insubordinate · mutinous · contrary · noncompliant · dissenting · oppositional · wayward · contumacious · refractory · undisciplined
difficult
Requiring much effort
- uncontrollableImpossible to restrain
- ungovernableImpossible to control
- incorrigibleImpossible to reform
troublesome · problematic · unruly · wild · untamable · impossible · hopeless · irredeemable · unreformable · unteachable
- misbehaviormisbehave, misbehavior, mischief, misconduct, naughty
- fancy wordsgrandiloquent, magniloquent, sesquipedalian, pulchritudinous, tintinnabulation
- hardheadshardhead, mule, bullhead, donkey, hardliner
- certaintycertain, sure, uncertain, unsure, definite
- tenacitydetermined, persistence, persistent, perseverance, determination
- unwillingreluctant, hesitant, resistant, averse, disinclined
recalcitrantobedient
Following commands willingly
compliant · docile · tractable · submissive · biddable
recalcitrantmanageable
Able to be controlled
governable · controllable · trainable · tameable · disciplined