Legal contexts are one area where you might encounter this fancy word for “rebellious” or “insubordinate” – and the link between contumacious and the law goes back to Latin. The Latin adjective contumax means “rebellious,” or, in specific cases, “showing contempt of court.” Contumacious is related to contumely, meaning “harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt.” Both contumacious and contumely are thought to ultimately come from the Latin verb tumēre, meaning “to swell” or “to be proud.”

… Montana’s “Durum Triangle,” where the caprice of microclimates has led farmers to complain not of floods but of drought. —Florence Williams, New Republic, 16 Aug. 1999

But Castro has his army and his secret police and a reputation for ferocious caprice, and so he can make a whole people dance to his dementias. —Jack Beatty, Atlantic, January 1987

I’m allowing about ten days between here and the U.S.A. (that may be too much or too little, depending on the caprice of the Italian mails). —James Wright, letter, 28 May 1979

the caprices of the weather

Employees have complained of being at the mercy of the manager’s every whim and caprice.

policy changes that seem to be motivated by nothing more than caprice

In tandem with a winsome chorus of Mooncats—slinky, musical creatures—the two canines meditate on fate, geopolitical caprice, and the vagaries of animal and human consciousness. —The New Yorker, “The Offending Gesture”, 9 Jan. 2017

Even the rare good things that happen to Amy and Jordan are unfair caprices of fate; the only real way to cope with powerlessness in the face of disaster, Beyer suggests, is to giggle at its absurdity. —douglas wolk, New York Times, “Horror: Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror,’ and More JUNE 1, 2016”, 1 June 2016

CapriceAs far as nightclubs go, there isn’t a place that’s more Greek than Caprice, an Astoria hot-spot which has been around for 15 years. —margarita bertsos, CNT, “My Big Fat Greek New York”, 25 Mar. 2016

No more relying on the fleeting kindness of Christian princes or the caprice of Ottoman viziers. —jeffrey goldberg, The Atlantic, “Is It Time for the Jews to Leave Europe?”, 19 Nov. 2015

I would be guided only by my merest whim, caprice, or appetite. —jeffrey steingarten, Vogue, “Why the Cast-Iron Skillet Is the Only Kitchen Tool You Need”, 21 Apr. 2014

The first post-Fleming Bond novel, Colonel Sun, was by the 007 superfan Kingsley Amis, who (under the pseudonym Robert Markham) gleefully submitted himself to the caprices of the Fleming style, with its stern limits and sudden, lurid inflations. —james parker, The Atlantic, “The Inner Life of James Bond”, 19 Feb. 2014

With a full power of removal, the President will be more likely to spare unworthy officers through fear than to displace the meritorious through caprice or passion. —charles p. pierce, Esquire, “Your Evening Jemmy”, 12 Sep. 2012