What does "adamant" mean?
An unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness.
Adamant
/ˈæd.ə.mənt/ adj, noun
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness.
- Grammar: adamant is listed as adj, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: adamantine, adamantine, at a standstill, bone.
- Useful contrasts: accommodating, amenable, brittle.
- Usage evidence: I'm adamant that you should go.
How to use "adamant"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "adamant" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "adamant" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "adamant" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "adamant" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "adamant" is acting as adj, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "adamantine" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "adamant", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness.
"This then is and alwayes hath ben the fashion of Worldlinges, & reprobate persons, to harden their hartes as an adamant stone, against anye thinge that shalbe tolde the for amendement of their lives, and for the savinge of their soules."
- 2 very hard native crystalline carbon valued as a gem wordnet
- 3 An unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness.; In later use: diamond. historical, poetic
- 4 An unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness.; In later use: a lodestone. archaic, poetic
"You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant: / But yet you draw not iron, for all my heart / Is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw, / And I shall have no power to follow you."
- 5 An unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness.; A substance that neutralizes lodestones.
"An Adamant hinders the attractive vertue, as also Garlick rubbed on the Magnet; for its attractive faculty is not so valid, but it may be easily deluded, obscured, and superated […]"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Chiefly in of adamant: an embodiment of impenetrable hardness; the quality of not being easily destroyed or overcome; impenetrableness, imperviousness, impregnableness; also, of a person: the quality of not being easily affected emotionally; impassiveness, unmovableness. figuratively
"Actual life might seem to her so real that she could not detect the union of shadow and adamant that men call poetry."
- 7 A person or thing having the quality of attracting or drawing; a lodestone, a magnet. figuratively, obsolete
Adjective
- 1 Firm; unshakeable; unyielding; determined.
"Broiles and Kirkley were adamant about getting out of the lawsuit, but Mike and Dee were equally adamant about not wanting to sign a letter of apology"
- 2 Very difficult to break, pierce, or cut.
"Unprotected matter, however adamant, would have been ground to dust ages ago."
Adjective
- 1 impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"I'm adamant that you should go."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "adamant"?
Common synonyms include: adamantine, adamantine, at a standstill, bone, brick, cast-iron.
How do you use "adamant" in a sentence?
I'm adamant that you should go.
How do you pronounce "adamant"?
Pronounced /ˈæd.ə.mənt/.
Etymology
From Middle English adamant, adamaunt, from Latin adamantem, accusative singular form of adamās (“hard as steel”), from Ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adámas, “invincible”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + δαμάζω (damázō, “I tame”) or of Semitic origin. Doublet of diamond.