froward

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The Word of the Day for August 16 is:

froward   \FROH-erd\   adjective
     : habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition

Example sentence: 
     "When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the 
best, but like a froward child, that must be played with and 
humored a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep. . . ." 
(Sir William Temple, _Miscellanea_)

Did you know?
     Once upon a time, in the days of Middle English, "froward" 
and "toward" were opposites. "Froward" meant "moving or facing 
away from something or someone"; "toward" meant "moving or 
facing in the direction of something or someone." (The suffix 
"-ward" is from Old English "-weard," meaning "moving, tending, 
facing.") "Froward" also meant "difficult to deal with, 
perverse"; "toward" meant "willing, compliant, obliging." Each 
went its own way in the end: "froward" lost its "away from" 
sense as long ago as the 16th century and the "willing" sense 
of "toward" disappeared in the 18th century.