Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for contumacy. Search instead for contumacity.
Synonyms

contumacy

American  
[kon-too-muh-see, -tyoo-] / ˈkɒn tʊ mə si, -tyʊ- /

noun

plural

contumacies

  1. stubborn perverseness or rebelliousness; willful and obstinate resistance or disobedience to authority.

contumacy British  
/ ˈkɒntjʊməsɪ /

noun

  1. obstinate and wilful rebelliousness or resistance to authority; insubordination; disobedience

  2. the wilful refusal of a person to appear before a court or to comply with a court order

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of contumacy

1150–1200; Middle English contumacie < Latin contumācia, equivalent to contumāc-, stem of contumāx unyielding, stubborn ( con- con- + -tum- of uncertain sense, though connected by classical authors with both contemnere to regard with contempt and tumēre to swell) + -āx adj. suffix) + -ia -ia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.