refractory

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: re=frac=to=ry

CIDE DICTIONARY

refractory, a. [L. refractorius, fr. refringere: cf. F. refractaire. See Refract.].

•  Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast.  [1913 Webster]

  "Raging appetites that are
  Most disobedient and refractory."  [1913 Webster]
•  Resisting ordinary treatment; difficult of fusion, reduction, or the like; -- said especially of metals and the like, which do not readily yield to heat, or to the hammer; as, a refractory ore.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Perverse; contumacious; unruly; stubborn; obstinate; unyielding; ungovernable; unmanageable.

refractory, n. 

•  A refractory person.  Bp. Hall.  [1913 Webster]
•  Refractoriness.  Jer. TAylor.  [1913 Webster]
•  OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.  Knight.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

refractory, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 stubborn, unmanageable, rebellious.
2 a (of a wound, disease, etc.) not yielding to treatment. b (of a person etc.) resistant to infection.
3 (of a substance) hard to fuse or work.
--n. (pl. -ies) a substance especially resistant to heat, corrosion, etc.

Derivative

refractorily adv. refractoriness n.

Etymology

alt. of obs. refractary f. L refractarius (as REFRACT)

THESAURUS

refractory

adversary, adversative, adverse, alien, antagonistic, anti, antipathetic, antithetic, at odds, averse, beyond control, breachy, bullheaded, china, clashing, clay, competitive, complaining, con, conflicting, contradictory, contrary, contumacious, counter, cross, cursory, defiant, deviant, differing, disaccordant, disagreeing, disinclined, disobedient, disputatious, disputing, dissentient, dissenting, dissident, enamel, enemy, forced, fractious, headstrong, hostile, impatient of control, incorrigible, indisposed, indocile, indomitable, inimical, insuppressible, intractable, involuntary, irrepressible, mulish, mutinous, negative, nonconformable, nonconforming, noncooperative, nonobservant, objecting, obstinate, obstreperous, obstructive, on the barricades, opponent, opposed, opposing, opposite, oppositional, oppositive, oppugnant, ornery, out of hand, overthwart, perfunctory, perverse, porcelain, proof against, protesting, rebellious, recalcitrant, recusant, reluctant, renitent, repellent, repugnant, resistant, resisting, resistive, restive, retardant, retardative, rival, self-willed, shrewish, stiff-necked, stubborn, sulky, sullen, unadaptable, unadjustable, unbiddable, uncompliant, unconforming, unconsenting, uncontrollable, uncooperative, unfavorable, unfriendly, ungovernable, unmalleable, unmanageable, unmoldable, unpropitious, unruly, unsubmissive, unwilling, unyielding, up in arms, wild, withstanding

ROGET THESAURUS

refractory

Obstinacy

N obstinacy, obstinateness, obstinacy, tenacity, cussedness, perseverance, immovability, old school, inflexibility, obduracy, obduration, dogged resolution, resolution, ruling passion, blind side, self-will, contumacy, perversity, pervicacy, pervicacity, indocility, bigotry, intolerance, dogmatism, opiniatry, opiniativeness, fixed idea, fanaticism, zealotry, infatuation, monomania, opinionatedness opinionativeness, mule, opinionist, opinionatist, opiniator, opinator, stickler, dogmatist, bigot, zealot, enthusiast, fanatic, obstinate, tenacious, stubborn, obdurate, casehardened, inflexible, balky, immovable, unshakable, not to be moved, inert, unchangeable, inexorable, mulish, obstinate as a mule, pig-headed, dogged, sullen, sulky, unmoved, uninfluenced unaffected, willful, self-willed, perverse, resty, restive, restiff, pervicacious, wayward, refractory, unruly, heady, headstrong, entete, contumacious, crossgrained, arbitrary, dogmatic, positive, bigoted, prejudiced, creed- bound, prepossessed, infatuated, stiff-backed, stiff necked, stiff hearted, hard-mouthed, hidebound, unyielding, impervious, impracticable, inpersuasible, unpersuadable, intractable, untractable, incorrigible, deaf to advice, impervious to reason, crotchety, obstinately, non possumus, no surrender, ils n'ont rien appris ne rien oublie.

Difficulty

N difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.

Resistance

N resistance, stand, front, oppugnation, oppugnancy, opposition, renitence, renitency, reluctation, recalcitration, kicking, repulse, rebuff, insurrection, strike, turn out, lock out, barring out, levee en masse, Jacquerie, riot, resisting, resistive, resistant, refractory, recalcitrant, renitent, up in arms, repulsive, repellant, proof against, unconquerable, stubborn, unconquered, indomitable, unyielding, Int, hands off!, keep off!.

Disobedience

N disobedience, insubordination, contumacy, infraction, infringement, violation, noncompliance, nonobservance, revolt, rebellion, mutiny, outbreak, rising, uprising, insurrection, emeute, riot, tumult, strike, barring out, defiance, mutinousness, mutineering, sedition, treason, high treason, petty treason, misprision of treason, premunire, lese majeste, violation of law, defection, secession, insurgent, mutineer, rebel, revolter, revolutionary, rioter, traitor, quisling, carbonaro, sansculottes, red republican, bonnet rouge, communist, Fenian, frondeur, seceder, secessionist, runagate, renegade, brawler, anarchist, demagogue, Spartacus, Masaniello, Wat Tyler, Jack Cade, ringleader, disobedient, uncomplying, uncompliant, unsubmissive, unruly, ungovernable, breachy, insubordinate, impatient of control, incorrigible, restiff, restive, refractory, contumacious, recusant, recalcitrant, resisting, lawless, mutinous, seditions, insurgent, riotous, unobeyed, unbidden, seditiosissimus quisque ignavus, unthread the rude eye of rebellion.