Headstrong — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Headstrong (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. given to resisting control or discipline by others

   "a headstrong child who likes to test the limits of his parents' patience"

   similar: froward, incontrollable, intractable, recalcitrant, refractory, uncontrollable, ungovernable, unmanageable, unruly, untoward, wayward, willful, out of hand
   related: bullheaded, contrary, difficult, hardheaded, incorrigible, intransigent, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, perverse, pigheaded, self-willed, stiff, stiff-necked, stubborn, undisciplined, unpunished, uncontrolled, wild, boisterous, irrepressible, rambunctious, rowdy, disobedient, indocile, insubordinate, rebellious, misbehaving, naughty
   opposite: controllable, governable, manageable, tractable
   near: docile, obedient, well-behaved, compliant, placable, pliable, submissive, yielding, accepting, persuadable, receptive, responsive, willing, reasonable, temperate, trainable

2. sticking to an opinion, purpose, or course of action in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion

   "the tenants of the building remain headstrong in their determination not to be evicted by the developer"

   similar: adamant, adamantine, bullheaded, dogged, hard, hard-nosed, hardened, hardheaded, immovable, implacable, inconvincible, inflexible, intransigent, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ossified, pat, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, self-opinionated, self-willed, stiff-necked, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful, deaf to reason
   related: anal-retentive, obsessive, wayward, wrongheaded, determined, hell-bent, inexorable, persistent, relentless, resolved, set, single-minded, steadfast, stouthearted, tenacious, unflinching, firm, hard-line, hard-shell, iron, severe, stern, strict, hidebound, narrow-minded, rigid, bloody-minded (chiefly British), cantankerous, contrary, cussed, contumacious, disobedient, froward, insubordinate, intractable, recalcitrant, refractory, uncooperative, ungovernable, unmanageable, unruly, defiant, insurgent, mutinous, indomitable, invincible, unconquerable, confirmed, inveterate, unregenerate, demanding, exacting
   opposite: acquiescent, agreeable, amenable, compliant, complying, flexible, pliable, pliant, relenting, yielding
   near: docile, obedient, placable, submissive, tractable, accepting, persuadable, receptive, responsive, willing, governable, manageable, reasonable, temperate, slavish, subservient