Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Showing or characterized by obstinate resistance to authority or control.
- adjective Difficult to melt or work; resistant to heat.
- adjective Resistant to treatment.
- noun One that is refractory, especially a material that has a high melting point.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Resisting; unyielding; sullen or perverse in opposition or disobedience; obstinate in non-compliance; stubborn and unmanageable.
- Resisting ordinary treatment or strains, etc.; difficult of fusion, reduction, or the like: said especially of metals and the like that require an extraordinary degree of heat to fuse them, or that do not yield readily to the hammer.
- Not susceptible; not subject; resisting (some influence, as of disease).
- Synonyms Stubborn, Intractable, etc. (see
obstinate ), unruly, ungovernable, unmanageable, headstrong, mulish. - noun One who is obstinate in opposition or disobedience.
- noun Obstinate opposition.
- noun In pottery, a piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln to communicate a glaze to other articles.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable.
- adjective 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.
- noun A refractory person.
- noun obsolete Refractoriness.
- noun O
Pottery ) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Obstinate andunruly ; stronglyopposed to something. - adjective Not affected by great
heat . - adjective medicine
Difficult totreat . - adjective biology
Incapable of registering areaction orstimulus . - noun A material or piece of material, such as a
brick , that has a very highmelting point .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective temporarily unresponsive or not fully responsive to nervous or sexual stimuli
- adjective not responding to treatment
- noun lining consisting of material with a high melting point; used to line the inside walls of a furnace
- adjective stubbornly resistant to authority or control
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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For the purpose of this book the term refractory will cover clays and materials that are suitable to be used in a potter's kiln fired up to
1. Refractories 1987
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Lou Dobbs, that paragon of choice xenophobic political battles to pick and win, hopped on this “American Otherness” bandwagon like it was the last copter out of Saigon and is riding it for all it's stupidly worth — which is pretty much just huzzahs and dittoes from the scrape-knuckled fucktards who flock to him post-their mid-afternoon Limbaugh-lovin 'refractory period.
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Lou Dobbs, that paragon of choice xenophobic political battles to pick and win, hopped on this “American Otherness” bandwagon like it was the last copter out of Saigon and is riding it for all it's stupidly worth — which is pretty much just huzzahs and dittoes from the scrape-knuckled fucktards who flock to him post-their mid-afternoon Limbaugh-lovin 'refractory period.
Archive 2009-08-01 2009
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Within a month, De Courcy heard that the castles were pulled down, and, on his calling his refractory vassal to account, received a truly Irish answer: MacMahon said he had not promised to hold stones, but land, and it was contrary to his nature to couch within cold stones, when the warm woods were so nigh.
Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862
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Any hard, woody materials -- Howard called them "refractory" -- must be thoroughly broken up before composting, otherwise the fermentation would not be vigorous, rapid, and uniform throughout the process.
Organic Gardener's Composting Steve Solomon
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ROME -- Long-term gout patients should not be considered "refractory" -- and clinicians should not treat them as such -- until uric crystals are dissolved to the point that flares of pain are prevented, a researcher said here.
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Natural graphite is used mostly in what are called refractory applications.
Graphite 2008
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By industrial standards a clay is called refractory when it does not soften below 1580 °C.
1. Refractories 1987
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Ameni enquired of them as to the preparations for the festival of the morrow, and then desired the chief haruspex to call the refractory pupils together in the school-court.
Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt — Volume 05 Georg Ebers 1867
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Ameni enquired of them as to the preparations for the festival of the morrow, and then desired the chief haruspex to call the refractory pupils together in the school-court.
Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt — Volume 05 Georg Ebers 1867
orbitalcombustion commented on the word refractory
Making reference to the refractory period - when the body is unable to orgasm due to the short recover period necessary after a successful orgasm.
October 6, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word refractory
Is there such a thing as an unsuccessful orgasm? Hmm...
October 6, 2007
kingparton commented on the word refractory
Prose is by nature unstable and self-interfering; it is refractory and uncontainable. Prose does not so much flow as overflow.
Viktor Shklovsky, Theory of Prose
December 14, 2011
mohitanand commented on the word refractory
stubbornly resistant to authority or control
Used to studious high school students, Martha was unprepared for the refractory Kindergarteners who neither sat still nor listened to a single word she said.
October 19, 2016