adamantine
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adamantine¹
- /ˌædəˈmæntaɪn/ UK
- /ˌædəˈmænˌtaɪn/ US
- /-ˌt(i)n/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English adamantine, adamantyne, adamauntyn (“(adjective) of adamant; (noun) adamant”), from Anglo-Norman adamantin and Middle French adamantin (“of or resembling adamant or diamond”) (modern French adamantin), and from its etymon Latin adamantinus (“adamantine”), from Ancient Greek ἀδᾰμάντῐνος (adămántĭnos, “hard as adamant; made of steel”), from ᾰ̓δᾰμᾰντ- (ădămănt-) (a stem of ἀδάμᾱς (adámās, “the hardest metal (probably steel); diamond”), possibly originally Semitic) + -ῐνος (-ĭnos, suffix meaning ‘made of’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, adamant + -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).
Etymology 1, adjective sense 1.2.4 (“having the quality of attracting or drawing”) and etymology 1, adjective sense 2 (“like diamond in lustre; etc.”) refer to adamant (“(archaic) lodestone; (historical, poetic) diamond”).
adjective more adamantine · most adamantine
- Made of adamant (“an unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness”). [A]t laſt appeer / Hell bounds high reaching to the horrid Roof, / And thrice threefold the Gates; three folds vvere Braſs, / Three iron, three of Adamantine Rock, / Impenitrable, impal'd vvith circling fire, / Yet unconsum'd.
- Incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; impenetrable, unbreakable. adamantine bonds adamantine chains
- Difficult to defeat or prevail over; unshakable, unyielding. For two hours they stand; [François Claude Amour, marquis de] Bouillé's sword glittering in his hand, adamantine resolution clouding his brows; […]
- Of a person: refusing to change one's mind; obstinate, stubborn. I thought this last information would soften the young man, but he was adamantine. He informed me that it was against all bank rules for a woman to draw from her husband's deposit without his order.
- Having the quality of attracting or drawing; attractive, magnetic. Embravvne your ſoft-skind encloſure vvith Adamantine duſt, that it may dravve nothing but ſteele vnto it.
- Like diamond in lustre; bright, lustrous, shiny; also, of a lustre: like that of a mineral with a high refractive index such as diamond. Raspite, a new dimorphous form of lead tungstate, is found on some of the stolzite specimens as brownish or yellow monoclinic crystals with a strong adamantine lustre.
adamantine²
Where it comes from
Possibly from adamantium + -ine (suffix forming the names of chemical substances or materials).
noun
- Synonym of adamantium (“a fictional metal which is indestructible or nearly so”).
