adamant

adamant
{{11}}adamant (adj.) late 14c., "hard, unbreakable," from ADAMANT (Cf. adamant) (n.). Figurative sense of "unshakeable" first recorded 1670s. Related: Adamantly; adamance.
{{12}}adamant (n.) mid-14c., from O.Fr. adamant and directly from L. adamantem (nom. adamas) "adamant, hardest iron, steel," also figuratively, of character, from Gk. adamas (gen. adamantos) "unbreakable, inflexible" metaphoric of anything unalterable, also the name of a hypothetical hardest material, perhaps lit. "invincible," from a- "not" + daman "to conquer, to tame" (see TAME (Cf. tame) (adj.)), or else a word of foreign origin altered to conform to Greek.
Applied in antiquity to white sapphire, magnet (perhaps via confusion with L. adamare "to love passionately"), steel, emery stone, and especially diamond (see DIAMOND (Cf. diamond)). The word was in Old English as aðamans "a very hard stone."

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • Adamant — Adamant, Adamas, Adamantit, Adamantium oder ähnliche Wörter bezeichnen ein fiktives, sehr hartes Mineral, Kristall oder Metall bzw. einen ebenso robusten (Halb )Edelstein. Ebenso wie Diamant und Adamantan, lässt sich das Wort „Adamant“ vom griech …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Adamant — Área no incorporada de los Estados Unidos …   Wikipedia Español

  • Adamant — Ad a*mant ([a^]d [.a]*m[a^]nt), n. [OE. adamaunt, adamant, diamond, magnet, OF. adamant, L. adamas, adamantis, the hardest metal, fr. Gr. ada mas, antos; a priv. + dama^,n to tame, subdue. In OE., from confusion with L. adamare to love, be… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • adamant — ADAMÁNT, adamante, s.n. (pop.) Diamant (1). – Din sl. adamantŭ. Trimis de ana zecheru, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DEX 98  ADAMÁNT s. v. diamant. Trimis de siveco, 13.09.2007. Sursa: Sinonime  adamánt s. n., pl …   Dicționar Român

  • adamant — Its use as an adjective meaning ‘stubbornly unshakeable or inflexible’ is surprisingly recent (1930s); as a noun meaning a hard rock or mineral it goes back to the time of King Alfred, originally as a vague term often imbued with fabulous… …   Modern English usage

  • adamant — [adj1] unyielding determined, firm, fixed, hanging tough*, hard nosed, immovable, inexorable, inflexible, insistent, intransigent, obdurate, pat*, relentless, resolute, rigid, set, set in stone*, standing pat*, stiff, stubborn, unbendable,… …   New thesaurus

  • adamant — I adjective callous, firm, frozen, hard hearted, immovable, immutable, implacable, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intractable, irreconcilable, merciless, obdurate, persistent, pertinacious, resolute, rigid, stationary, stiff, stubborn, tough …   Law dictionary

  • adamant — adamant, adamantine obdurate, inexorable, *inflexible Analogous words: unyielding, unsubmitting (see affirmative verbs at YIELD): immovable, immobile (see affirmative adjectives at MOVABLE): *grim, implacable, unrelenting Antonyms: yielding… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • adamant — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ refusing to be persuaded or to change one s mind. DERIVATIVES adamantly adverb. ORIGIN Greek adamas untameable, invincible …   English terms dictionary

  • adamant — [ad′ə mənt, ad′əmant΄] n. [ME & OFr < L adamas (gen. adamantis), the hardest metal < Gr adamas (gen. adamantos) < a , not + daman, to subdue: see TAME] 1. in ancient times, a hard stone or substance that was supposedly unbreakable 2. Old …   English World dictionary

  • Adamant — Adamantand similar words are used to refer to any especially hard substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal. Both adamant and diamond derive from the Greek word αδαμας ( adamas ), meaning untameable .… …   Wikipedia

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