froward

fro•ward (FROH-werd, FROH-erd)  adj

Definition:
willfully contrary; not easily managed

frowardness noun; frowardly adverb

Origin:
1150–1200; O.E. fromweard "turned from or away," from from + -weard; opposite of toward, it renders L. pervertus in early translations of the Psalms, and also meant "about to depart, departing," and "doomed to die"

Related:
Synonyms: adverse, balky, contrary, headstrong, insubmissive, obstinate, refractory, stubborn, unyielding, antagonistic, antipodal, antipodean, contradictory, contrariant, contumacious, discordant, dissentient, opposed, ornery, recusant
Related Words: afterward, toward, backward, awkward, steward, forward, untoward

Sentence Examples:
• "Tell your sister for me," I recall his saying, "what a kind, good, and deserving man I am. How I love little children and [with a dry chuckle] elderly spinsters. Relate how I was born of rich yet honest parents, was reared in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord,' and, according to the bent of a froward youth, have stumbled along to become the cynosure of a ribald age." - Eugene Field, A Study In Heredity And Contradictions, Slason Thompson

• The froward fellow put his fingers to his lips, as the little children do to blow a kiss, and when his eyes fell on that wench's, meseemed that this was not the first time they had met. - Margery, by Georg Ebers

• It may suffice to touch very slightly on some other arguments, which it would hardly be right to leave altogether unnoticed: one of these (the justice of which, however denied by superficial moralists, parents of strict principles can abundantly testify) may be drawn from the perverse and froward dispositions perceivable in children, which it is the business and sometimes the ineffectual attempt of education to reform.  - A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity, William Wilberforce

Sources: Dictionary.com, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day