Contumacious
/ˌkɒn.tjʊˈmeɪ.ʃəs/noun
Stubbornly disobedient or openly defiant.
Did you know?Contumacious comes from Latin contumax, a word for someone who is stubbornly defiant, and it was used in legal and ecclesiastical contexts for people resisting authority.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dem-
“to tame, subdue”
Latin
Latin
domare
“to tame, subdue”
Latin
Latin
contumax
“stubborn, disobedient, insolent”
Late Latin
Latin
contumacius
“more stubborn or disobedient”
Middle English
English
contumacious
“disobedient, rebellious, obstinately disobedient”
Modern English
English
contumacious
“stubbornly disobedient or openly defiant”
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