intransigence

English

Etymology

From French intransigeance, noun form of intransigeant, borrowed from Spanish intransigente at the end of the nineteenth century. Morphologically, from in- + transiger + -ant, literally "uncompromising".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɹæn.sɪ.d͡ʒəns/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

intransigence (countable and uncountable, plural intransigences)

1. Unwillingness to change one's views or to agree.

   The intransigence of both sides frustrated the negotiators.

   • 1981 January 16, Jimmy Carter, State of the Union Address‎^[1]:

     Meanwhile, we have encouraged and supported efforts to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan which would lead to a withdrawal of Soviet forces from that country and meet the interests of all concerned. It is Soviet intransigence that has kept those efforts from bearing fruit.

   • 2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     The curse has been Spanish ineptitude feeding Gibraltarian intransigence. Border hold-ups are counterproductive to winning hearts and minds, as were blundering Argentinian landings on the outer Falklands.

   • 2022 November 7, “The Guardian view on Rishi Sunak’s Cop27 trip: placing the planet on a road to hell”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Rishi Sunak is not interested in the climate emergency – and everyone knows it. Forced to make a flying visit to Cop27, Mr Sunak’s intransigence made him an outcast at the UN summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

   • 2022 December 14, Mel Holley, “Network News: Strikes go on as RMT rejects RDG's "detrimental" offer”, in RAIL, number 972, page 8:

     "We feel that we've been compelled to take this action due to the intransigence of the Government," said RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch.

Related terms

• intransigent

Translations

intransigence

• Bulgarian: непримиримост (bg) f (neprimirimost), безкомпромисност f (bezkompromisnost)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不妥協／不妥协 (bùtuǒxié)

• Danish: kompromisløshed c, umedgørlighed c
• Dutch: onverzettelijkheid (nl) f
• Finnish: myöntymättömyys (fi)
• French: intransigeance (fr) f
• German: Unnachgiebigkeit f, Intransigenz (de) f
• Greek: αδιαλλαξία (el) f (adiallaxía)
• Icelandic: þrjóska f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: umedgjørlighet m or f

• Polish: nieprzejednanie n, nieustępliwość (pl) f
• Romanian: intransigență (ro) f
• Russian: непримири́мость (ru) f (neprimirímostʹ), непрекло́нность (ru) f (nepreklónnostʹ), бескомпроми́ссность (ru) (beskompromíssnostʹ)
• Spanish: intransigencia (es) f
• Swedish: omedgörlighet (sv) c

Anagrams

• antiscreening