ostinare

Ostinare is an Italian verb meaning to persist obstinately or to pursue a goal with determination. It is rare in contemporary Italian and is more commonly found in historical texts or literary writing; in everyday language, speakers typically use ostinarsi to express stubborn persistence, or other verbs such as insistere or persistere.

The form derives from Latin obstinare and is cognate with French obstiner and Spanish obstinar. It is closely related to the noun ostinazione (obstinacy) and to the musical term ostinato, which denotes a persistently repeated motif.

Usage and nuance are similar to obstinate persistence in the face of opposition. The verb is mainly used in formal, antique, or stylistic contexts and is not common in modern prose. Modern Italian usually employs ostinarsi a + infinitive or gerund to express persistent effort, for example, si ostina a voler finire il lavoro nonostante le difficoltà.

In linguistic descriptions, ostinare is sometimes cited as archaic or literary; it is not favored in everyday speech, where insistere, persistere, or non arrendersi are preferred. The term remains of interest for discussions of Italian etymology and historical usage, and it forms part of the same semantic field as ostinazione and ostinato.