Recalcitrant

Recalcitrant:

Dictionary definition: “Obstinately defiant of authority or restraint,”/“difficult to manage or operate.”

Sentence definition: A recalcitrant person or action demonstrates a resistant or defiant attitude and behavior.

Original sentence: ¨With a grunt, the freckled woman gave a recalcitrant nod.¨

Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes:

Prefixes: Re, meaning again or back

Suffixes: Ant, meaning one who, or inclined to

Roots: Calc, from the Latin word Calx, meaning heel

Etymology:

Language of origin: English, derived from Latin

Original word: Recalcitrare, meaning to kick back with ones heel

Date used in Modern English: 1820

Etymological observations: Recalcitrant came from the Latin word Recalcitrare, which meant to kick back with ones heel. In ancient Rome, Colosseum's would hold horses and soldiers to take part in battle. It was most likely used to describe the literal action of a persons attack like a backwards kick to push something away. Today it has been interpreted into something less literal, and applied to any action or a feeling of wanting to push something away and not take part in it.

Model Sentences:

1. “The as-yet-unsuccessful plan to apprehend the recalcitrant animals is to use "food and other zebras" to lure them back to the farm, said Prince George's County.” (Zebras evade capture outside Washington, DC)

2. “It's like I tell my two recalcitrant children: ¨Do you like money? Because I am going to win a bunch of it next April.¨ (Zach LaVine)

3. “But it provided an outline for how the Biden administration hopes to knit together its concerns about trade and climate and work with allies to take on a recalcitrant China, at a time when progress on multi-country trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization has stalled.” (European Steel Plan)

Multi Media Poem:

Reaching back, stepping far away

Perhaps it is fear, or unwillingness to be contained

An attitude that has been made impossible to sway