• intransigent •
Pronunciation: in-træn-zê-jênt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: damantly uncompromising, immovably stubborn on a point or issue, utterly intractable.
Notes: This Good Word is an authentic orphan negative: we may be as intransigent as please but even if we always give in, we can never be transigent. Why? No such word exists. When someone cannot be dissuaded from a point, he or she becomes an intransigent, characterized by intransigence or intransigency, either of which works fine.
In Play: Today’s Good Word implies resistance beyond stubbornness; it is the more literary term for bullheadedness: "The boss is absolutely intransigent on this: he says that Snoop Doggy Dogg's music isn't classical and so can't be played on the elevators." There are plenty of places around the house where today's Good Word comes in handy: "I don't understand why Mom so intransigently opposes my wearing a nose ring!"
Word History: Today's word was borrowed from intransigeant, the French makeover of Spanish los intransigentes, a term used to refer to extremist parties in the 19th century Spanish Cortes (legislature). The word comes from Latin in- "not, un-" + transigen(t)s "crossing over", the present participle of transigere "to come to an ageement". This verb comprises trans- "across" + agere "to act"; in fact, the past participle of agere is actus, the origin of English act. The present participle is agen(t)s "acting", the source of English agent. (We are certainly not intransigent when it comes to thanking Helen Barrett for suggesting today's wonderful Good Word.)
INTRANSIGENT
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INTRANSIGENT
• The Good Dr. Goodword
Google as a verb was the American Dialect Society 2002 "most useful' new word and ran second to the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" in their word of the year vote. I suppose you can claim that the ADS is of no worth but I prefer to call them a bit slow since 'google' was the Oxford word for 1999:
http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/w ... 004/?view=
The scary part is most of these words are in my vocabulary and all but a couple are at least known. I'm not sure if I would admit to knowing tiddly-om-pom-pom (1909) if I did.
Keep up or be plutoed!
http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/w ... 004/?view=
The scary part is most of these words are in my vocabulary and all but a couple are at least known. I'm not sure if I would admit to knowing tiddly-om-pom-pom (1909) if I did.
Keep up or be plutoed!
Doug Smith
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