contumacy
/ˈkɒntjʊməsi/ noun
Forms contumacies
- noun (chiefly Christianity and law) Disobedience, resistance to authority.
Etymology
From Latin contumācia, from contumāx (“refusing to appear in a court of law in disobedience of a summons; insolent, obstinate, stiff-necked”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Stubborn perverseness; pertinacious resistance to authority.
- noun A willful contempt of, and disobedience to, any lawful summons, or to the rules and orders of court, as a refusal to appear in court when legally summoned.
Etymology [L. contumacia, fr. contumax, -acis, insolent; prob. akin to contemnere to despise: cf. F. contumace. Cf. Contemn.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “contumacy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details