adamantine

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 5, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>adamantine</strong> &#149; \ad-uh-MAN-teen\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><em>Adamantine</em> means "rigidly firm" or "unyielding."</p> <p>// The laws were <em>adamantine</em> and were inscribed on bronze tablets.</p> <p>// The ushers were <em>adamantine</em> in their refusal to let latecomers into the theater.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adamantine">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"The black-and-white illustrations … conjure up wind-borne snows, cliffs that rear up like waves, and waves that look as <em>adamantine</em> as rock." — Susannah Clapp, <em>The Observer</em> (London), 5 June 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>The Greek and Latin word for the hardest imaginable substance, whether applied to a legendary stone or an actual substance, such as diamond, was <em>adamas</em>. Latin poets used the term figuratively for things lasting, firm, or unbending, and the adjective <em>adamantinus</em> was applied in similar contexts. The English noun <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adamant#h2">adamant</a></em> (meaning "an unbreakable or extremely hard substance") as well as the adjective <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adamant">adamant</a></em> ("inflexible" or "unyielding") came from <em>adamas</em>. <em>Adamantine</em>, however—which has such figurative uses as "rigid," "firm," and "unyielding"—came from <em>adamantinus</em>. <em>Adamas</em> is also the source of <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diamond">diamond</a></em>. <em>Diamas</em>, the Latin term for diamond, is an alteration of <em>adamas</em>.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>