| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | stiff, strict, severe |
| Synonyms: | adamant, adamantine, austere, bullheaded, changeless, chiseled, dead set, definite, determined, exact, firm, fixed, hard, hard-line, harsh, incompliant, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intransigent, invariable, locked in, obdurate, rigorous, set, set in stone, single-minded, solid, static, stern, strait-laced, stringent, tough nut to crack, unalterable, unbending, unbreakable, unchanging, uncompromising, undeviating, unmoving, unpermissive, unrelenting, unyielding |
| Antonyms: | bending, flexible, lenient, limber, pliable, pliant, soft, yielding |
| Main Entry: | adamant |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unyielding |
| Synonyms: | 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, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unshakable, unswayable |
| Antonyms: | flexible, pliant, submissive, yielding |
| Main Entry: | austere |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe in manner |
| Synonyms: | ascetic, astringent, cold, earnest, exacting, forbidding, formal, grave, grim, hard, harsh, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, rigid, rigorous, serious, sober, solemn, somber, stern, stiff, strict, stringent, unfeeling, unrelenting |
| Antonyms: | bland, calm, gentle, meek, mild |
| Main Entry: | authoritarian |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | domineering |
| Synonyms: | absolute, authoritative, autocratic, despotic, dictatorial, disciplinarian, doctrinaire, dogmatic, harsh, imperious, magisterial, rigid, severe, strict, totalitarian, tyrannical, unyielding |
| Notes: | authoritarian is tyrannical while authoritative commands respect |
| Antonyms: | democratic, liberal |
| Main Entry: | conventional |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unoriginal |
| Synonyms: | bigoted, bourgeois, commonplace, conforming, conservative, demure, doctrinal, dogmatic, drippy, hackneyed, hidebound, humdrum, illiberal, in rut, inflexible, insular, isolationist, lame, literal, moderate, moral, narrow, narrow-minded, not heretical, obstinate, parochial, pedestrian, prosaic, puritanical, rigid, routine, rube, run-of-the-mill, sober, solemn, square, stereotyped, straight, straight-laced, strict, stuffy, uptight |
| Antonyms: | different, exotic, foreign, new, original, strange, unique |
| Main Entry: | difficult |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hard on someone; hard to do |
| Synonyms: | Gargantuan, Herculean, ambitious, arduous, backbreaker, bothersome, burdensome, challenging, crucial, demanding, difficile, easier said than done, effortful, exacting, formidable, galling, hard-won, heavy, immense, intricate, irritating, labored, laborious, no picnic, not easy, onerous, operose, painful, problem, problematic, prohibitive, rigid, severe, stiff, strenuous, titanic, toilsome, tough, troublesome, trying, unyielding, uphill, upstream, wearisome |
| Antonyms: | calm, easy, free, manageable, plain, simple, uncomplicated |
| Main Entry: | difficult |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unmanageable socially |
| Synonyms: | argumentative, bearish, boorish, dark, demanding, fastidious, finicky, fractious, fussy, grim, hard to please, impolite, intractable, irritable, oafish, obstreperous, perverse, picky, refractory, rigid, rude, tiresome, tough, troublesome, trying, unaccommodating, unamenable |
| Antonyms: | calm, friendly, sociable |
| Main Entry: | doctrinaire |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dogmatic, opinionated |
| Synonyms: | authoritarian, authoritative, biased, bigoted, bullheaded, dictative, dictatorial, dogged, fanatical, impractical, inflexible, insistent, magisterial, mulish, obstinate, one-sided, pertinacious, pigheaded, rigid, speculative, stiff-necked, stubborn, unrealistic |
| Antonyms: | amenable, flexible, manageable, obedient, submissive |
| Main Entry: | dogged |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | determined, persistent |
| Synonyms: | adamant, bullheaded, firm, hanging tough, hard-nosed, hardheaded, indefatigable, inexorable, inflexible, insistent, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, perseverant, perseverative, persevering, pertinacious, pigheaded, relentless, resolute, rigid, single-minded, staunch, steadfast, steady, stubborn, tenacious, tough nut, unbending, unflagging, unshakable, unyielding |
| Antonyms: | indifferent, irresolute, undetermined, yielding |