Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Adamantine

WORD OF THE DAY
 
ADAMANTINE \ ad-uh-MAN-teen \ adjective
 
Definition
1: made of or having the quality of adamant
 
2a: rigidly firm
2b: unyielding
 
3: resembling the diamond in hardness or luster
 
Examples
The ushers were adamantine in their refusal to let latecomers into the theater.

"Lampard and Pirlo have been adamantine, but even Lampard fell prey to injury this past season."
— Rafael Noboa y Rivera, The Hudson River Blue, 17 June 2015
 
Did You Know?
The Greek and Latin word for the hardest imaginable substance, whether applied to a legendary stone or an actual substance, such as diamond, was adamas. Latin poets used the term figuratively for things lasting, firm, or unbending, and the adjective adamantinus was used in similar contexts.
The English noun adamant (meaning "an unbreakable or extremely hard substance"), as well as the adjective adamant (meaning "inflexible" or "unyielding"), came from adamas. Adamantine, which also has such figurative uses as "rigid," "firm," and "unyielding," came from adamantinus. Adamas is actually the source of diamond as well.
Diamas, the Latin term for diamond, was an alteration of adamas.

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