mulish.

Unreasonably stubborn and unwilling to change your position despite persuasion or evidence.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• mulish refusal
• mulish resistance
• mulish expression

On the page

She met every suggestion with the same mulish shake of the head.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Comparative more mulish; superlative most mulish when comparison is meaningful. Commonness: moderately common (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: MW specifies unreasonable, inflexible obstinacy; preserve negative judgment rather than praising determination. Writing functions: precise action, characterization.