Definition of "contumacy" [con•tu•ma•cy]

• Obstinate or contemptuous resistance to authority; stubborn rebelliousness. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "“Yes, yes,” continued the Frenchwoman, with angry volubility, “what has she done that you call contumacy and disrespect?"
• "Presumptive contumacy occurs when there is a strong presumption, though it is not certain, that the citation was served."
• "As he resisted all Davies's attempts to enlighten him, and met his master's threats with a stedfastness which these friends to liberty called contumacy, the alternative was dismissal from his present service, without any remuneration for his past."