refractory
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈfɹæk.təɹ.i/
rhymes: -æktəɹi
Forms: form: more refractory
form: most refractory
Etymology: From Latin refractārius (“obstinate”), from refractus, past participle of refringere (“to break up”). Originally refractary, refractarie, but reanalysed after other adjectives in -ory.
Senses: examples: text: […] in most instances attempts to coerce the refractory and disobedient have been the signals of bloody wars, […]
ref: 1787, Alexander Hamilton, “No. 16”, in The Federalist, published 1863, page 103:
text: Mr. Weller knocked at the door, and after a pretty long interval—occupied by the party without, in whistling a tune, and by the party within, in persuading a refractory flat candle to allow itself to be lighted […]
ref: 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 26”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
text: For five minutes Pollyanna worked swiftly, deftly, combing a refractory curl into fluffiness, perking up a drooping ruffle at the neck, or shaking a pillow into plumpness so that the head might have a better pose. Meanwhile the sick woman, frowning prodigiously, and openly scoffing at the whole procedure, was, in spite of herself, beginning to tingle with a feeling perilously near to excitement.
ref: 1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 8, in Pollyanna, L.C. Page, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: contrary
english: inanimates
translation: inanimates
word: fractious
word: adamant
word: ardent
word: bent on
word: bloody-minded
word: bullheaded
word: certain
word: chronic
word: confirmed
word: determined
word: diehard
word: dogged
word: hard-hearted
word: hard-nosed
word: hardheaded
word: headstrong
word: immovable
word: incalcitrant
word: inflexible
word: irrefragable
word: insistent
word: intractable
word: intransigent
word: intrepid
word: inveterate
word: mulish
word: obdurate
word: obstinate
word: obstreperous
word: peevish
word: peremptory
word: persistent
word: pertinacious
word: pigheaded
word: recalcitrant
word: refractory
word: resolute
word: resolved
word: rigid
word: self-willed
word: stalwart
word: staunch
word: steadfast
word: steady
word: stubborn
word: stubborn as a mule
word: sullen
word: tenacious
word: terminal
word: thran
word: thwart
word: tough
word: truculent
word: unbending
word: uncompromising
word: unyielding
word: vehement
word: wilful
word: willful
glosses: Obstinate and unruly; strongly opposed to something.
examples: text: Pure lime is extremely refractory, but readily fusible if any silex is brought in contact with it; […]
ref: 1855, Frederick Overman, A Treatise on Metallurgy, page 315:
synonyms: heat-resistant
fireproof
glosses: Not affected by great heat.
examples: text: Many of the vague and refractory cases of neck and shoulder pain and of migraine may be due to cervical disc disease.
ref: 1949, Albert Fields, John Hoesley, “Neck and Shoulder Pain”, in Calif. Med., 70(6):478-482:
text: In 33 adult patients with long standing refractory epilepsy on treatment with one or two standard anti-convulsant drugs,
ref: 1990, H. A. Ring et al., “Vigabatrin: rational treatment for chronic epilepsy”, in J. Neurol. Neurosurg.Psychiatry, 53(12):1051-1055:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Resistant to treatment; not responding adequately to therapy.
examples: text: The production of a generator potential leaves a refractory state in the receptor membrane […]
ref: 1959, Nobusada Ishiko, Werner R. Loewenstein, “Electrical output of a receptor membrane”, in Science, 130:1405-6:
text: The […] delivery of external stimuli […] delineates the pacemaker refractory period after the emission of a pacing stimulus and after the sensing of a spontaneous beat.
ref: 1970, S.S. Barold et al., “Chest wall stimulation in evaluation of patients with implanted ventricular-inhibited demand pacemakers”, in Br. Heart J., 32(6):783-789:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: Incapable of registering a reaction or stimulus.
Derived terms: electrorefractory
psychological refractory period
refractorily
refractoriness
refractory anaemia with excess blasts
refractory metal
refractory period
refractory rhyme
Related terms: refractive
refraction