Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Refractory |
RefractoryAdjective1. Resistant to authority or control; "as refractory as a mule". 2. (medicine) not responding to treatment; "a stubborn infection"; "a refractory case of acne". 3. Marked by stubborn resistance to and defiant of authority or guidance; "a recalcitrant teenager"; "everything revolves around a refractory individual genius". 4. Stubbornly resistant to authority or control; "a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness"; "a refractory child". Noun1. Lining consisting of material with a high melting point; used to line the inside walls of a furnace. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "refractory" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1602. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Chemical Industry | Fired articles having the special property of resisting high temperatures as met in metallurgy, the glass industry etc. (e. g. of the order of 1500 degree and higher). Source: European Union. (references) |
Aerospace | A material, usually ceramic, that resists the action of heat, does not fuse at high temperatures, and is very difficult to break down. (references) |
Food & Agriculture | A)(propagation)of seed, difficult to induce their germination; b)(silviculture)(USA)of sites on which it is difficult to(re-)establish a forest crop; c)(wood preservation, processing, etc. )in timber, implies difficulty in treating or processing by ordinary methods, e. g. resistance to the penetration of preservatives, difficulty in seasoning, difficulty in working. Source: European Union. (references) |
Health | Not readily yielding to treatment. (references) |
Metallurgy | Denotes a material which retains at high temperature a substantial portion of, more particularly, its mechanical properties and does not enter into chemical reaction or only slightly so. Source: European Union. (references) |
| Heat-resistant material, usually nonmetallic, used for the lining of vessels or structures subjected to heat. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Mining | A. Said of an ore from which it is difficult or expensive to recover its valuable constituents b. Exceptionally resistant to heat c. A nonmetallic material suitable for use in high-temperatureapplications. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: RefractorySynonyms: fractious (adj), recalcitrant (adj), stubborn (adj), furnace lining (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Difficulty | Awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable; intractable, stubborn; (obstinate); perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged; knotted, knotty; invious; pathless, trackless; labyrinthine; (convoluted); intricate, complicated; (tangled); impracticable; (impossible); not feasible; desperate; (hopeless). |
Disobedience | Adjective: disobedient; uncomplying, uncompliant; unsubmissive, unruly, ungovernable; breachy, insubordinate, impatient of control, incorrigible; restiff, restive; refractory, contumacious, recusant; (refuse); recalcitrant; resisting; lawless, mutinous, seditions, insurgent, riotous. |
Obstinacy | Willful, self-willed, perverse; resty, restive, restiff; pervicacious, wayward, refractory, unruly; heady, headstrong; entete; contumacious; crossgrained. |
Resistance | Adjective: resisting;Verb: resistive, resistant; refractory; (disobedient); recalcitrant, renitent; up in arms. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Title |
References |
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Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Steel manufacture, Allegheny-Ludlum. Lost heat is lost power, lost time and lost money. Furnaces for remelting and refining high quality steels and alloys are lined with refractory bricks such as these, made to withstand and to "reflect" terrific heat.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | The Allied and Associated Governments may file with the Reparation Commission lists showing: (a) Animals, machinery, equipment, tools and like articles of a commercial character, which have been seized, consumed or destroyed by Germany or destroyed in direct consequence of military operations, and which such Governments, for the purpose of meeting immediate and urgent needs, desire to have replaced by animals and articles of the same nature which are in being in German territory at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty; (b) Reconstruction materials (stones, bricks, refractory bricks, tiles, wood, window-glass, steel, lime, cement, etc.), machinery, heating apparatus, furniture and like articles of a commercial character which the said Governments desire to have produced and manufactured in Germany and delivered to them to permit of the restoration of the invaded areas. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The sewer, for instance, was refractory to all itineracy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Moreover, eradication of H. pylori infection may enhance healing of ulcers refractory to conventional therapy. (references) | |
Paclitaxel is currently the most active single agent for treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer even in patients refractory to platinum. (references) | ||
PAOP levels higher than this have resulted in pulmonary edema that responded poorly to mechanical ventilation, and in some cases, was refractory. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | Those measures having proved unsuccessful, it became necessary to convince the refractory of the power of the United States to punish their depredations. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Refractory" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Refractory" is used about 70 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 70 | 39,981 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "refractory": be refractory ♦ bosh refractory ♦ mouldable refractory ♦ plastic refractory ♦ refractory anaemia ♦ refractory anemia ♦ refractory cancer ♦ refractory ceramic good ♦ refractory clay ♦ refractory coating ♦ refractory material ♦ Refractory obesity ♦ refractory ore ♦ refractory period ♦ refractory pot ♦ refractory product ♦ refractory wash. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "refractory": refractory-lined. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "refractory"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | refraktar, zjarrdurues (fire proof, flame-resistant, incombustible), kundërshtues (averse, contentious, contradictory, controversial, deprecative, dissentient, objector, reactionary, recusant), i panënshtruar (insubordinate, rambunctious, unamenable, unsubdued, unswayed, unyielding), i pabindur (contumacious, disobedient, indocile, licentious, naughty, perverse, rebellious, recalcitrant, unamenable, unpersuadable, wayward), i fortë (able bodied, adamant, adamantine, brawny, cast iron, cogent, decuman, Doughty, durable, endurable, enduring, fast, fierce, firm, flinty, forceful, Hale, hard, Hardy, heavy duty, high pitched, intense, intensive, keen, lancinating, nervous, oaky, potent, powerful, red blooded, resistant, robust, rocky, rough, rugged, screamy, serviceable, sharp, smart, solid, sound, spanking, stable, staunch, steely, stentorian, stiff, stout, strong, sturdy, swashing, swingeing, tenable, tenacious, tough, two-fisted, vehement, vigorous, violent, virile, virulent, well-built, well-set). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مقاوم للعلاج, مقاوم للصهر, متمرد (disobedient, disorderly, insubordinate, insurgent, insurrectionary, mutinous, rebel, rebellious, recalcitrant, recusant, resistant, turbulent), مادة مقاومة للصهر, عنيد (adamant, asinine, contrary, coriaceous, die hard, dogged, dour, fractious, hardheaded, headstrong, heady, implacable, incorrigible, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intractable, intransigent, inveterate, irreconcilable, mulish, nagging, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ornery, peevish, persevering, pertinacious, perverse, piggish, pigheaded, rigid, scabrous, scratchy, self willed, stiff, stiff necked, stout, stubborn, sullen, tenacious, thwart, uncompromising, unruly, unwilling, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), عناد (inexorability, inflexibility, intransigence, obduracy, obstinacy, pertinacity, perverseness, perversity, stiffness, stoutness, stubbornness, tenacity, waywardness, wilfulness), ذو مناعة (immune, insusceptible), شموس (fractious, intractable, rebellious, recalcitrant, restive, stubborn, unwilling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | упорит (asinine, constant, defiant, die hard, dogged, flinty, gritty, hard bitten, hard boiled, hard core, hard set, hardheaded, hard-shell, importunate, incompliant, indomitable, insistent, intractable, inveterate, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, patient, persevering, persistent, pertinacious, piggish, purposeful, self willed, self-opinionated, set, spiky, stolid, stout, stouthearted, strenuous, sturdy, tenacious, tough, unpliant, unremitting, unwearing, wilful, wrongheaded), огнеупорно вещество, огнеупорен (fireproof, incombustible, infusible), непослушен (disobedient, intractable, naughty, troublesome, undutiful), непокорен (contumacious, disaffected, disobedient, disorderly, indocile, insubordinate, rambunctious, recalcitrant, repugnant, restive, tumultuous, unbowed, uncontrollable, undutiful, unfilial, unruly, unsubdued, unsubmissive, untoward, wayward), неподатлив човек, мъчнотопимо вещество, мъчнотопим, мъчен човек (handful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 工困难. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | umínìný (headstrong, hell-bent, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, self-opinionated, stubborn, wayward, wilful, willful), tvrdohlavý (contrary, headstrong, hell-bent, mulish, opinionated, pigheaded, self willed, stubborn), neústupný (immovable, insistent, intractable, intransigent, obstinate, pertinacious, stubborn, unyielding), žáruvzdorný. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | refraktær, vanskeligt at imprægnere eller bearbejde, vanskeligt at få til at spire, vanskeligt at få skov til at gro på, ildfast materiale, ildfast keramisk produkt (refractory ceramic good, refractory product), ildfast (fireproof). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | refractair, zwaar bewerkbaar, vuurvast produkt (refractory ceramic good, refractory product), vuurvast keramisch produkt (refractory ceramic good, refractory product), vuurvast (fireproof), moeilijk bewerkbaar, hittevast, balsturig (intractable, obstinate, stubborn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | kontraŭstarema (intractable, obstinate, stubborn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مقاوم (Adamant, Resistant, Resister), گردنکش (Disobedient, Turbulent, Unyielding), سرکش (Disobedient, Indomitable, Inelastic, Insubordinate, Irrepressible, Malcontent, Malignant, Naughty, Random, Rebel, Rebellious, Recalcitrant, Restive, Rowdy, Turbulent, Undaunted, Unruly, Unyielding, Wanton), سرسخت (Barnacle, Bullheaded, Diehard, Dogged, Dour, Headstrong, Intransigent, Inveterate, Obstinate, Recalcitrant, Remorseless, Stark, Stubborn, Tenacious), جسم نسوز. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | tulenkestävä aine, tulenkestävä (fire resisting, fireproof, fire-proof, flameproof, stubborn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | réfractaire (recusant, refractory material, refractory product). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | hartnäckig (adamant, besetting, dogged, dour, importunate, importunately, insistent, intractable, inveterate, obdurate, obstinate, obstinately, persistent, pertinacious, pertinaciously, pugnacious, pugnaciously, refractorily, strenuous, stubborn, tenacious, tenaciously, tough, unregenerate, unrelenting, urgent), widerspenstig (contrarily, contumacious, contumaciously, disobedient, fractious, insubordinate, intractable, obstinate, rebellious, recalcitrant, restive, stubborn, unmanageable, unmanageably, unruly, willful), feuerfest (fire proof, fireproof, flameproof, heat resistant, ovenproof). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σκληροτράχηλοσ (stiff necked), πυρίμαχοσ (fire resistant, fireproof), πυρίμαχο κεραμευτικό προϊόν (refractory ceramic good, refractory product), πυρίμαχο υλικό, πείσμων (pertinaceous, pertinacious, stubborn, wilful, willful), ανυπότακτοσ (contumacious, insubordinate, maverick, rebellious, recusant, unruly), δύστηκτοσ (infusible), δύστηκτο, δυσάγωγοσ (ungovernable). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | עקשן (adamant, bone head, contrary, dogged, headstrong, obdurate, obstinate, pertinacious, self willed, stiff necked, stubborn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | makacs (bullet-headed, bull-headed, contrary, contumacious, cross-grained, dogged, dour, froward, hard bitten, hard set, headstrong, hide-bound, inflexible, intractable, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ornery, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, recalcitrant, self willed, self-opinionated, self-willed, stiff, stiff necked, stubborn, stuffed shirt, tough, wrong-headed), tűzálló (fireproof, to stand the fire), hőálló. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | refrattario (stubborn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | raghtagh (orgasmic; strong-willed), meereiragh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | efractoryray refratário (absentee, conchy, defaulter, unamenable), refractário, refractário, teimoso (ambivalent, balky, die hard, Dogger, hard-mouthed, headstrong, mulish, obstinate, opium, peevish, pertinacity, pigheaded, recalcitrant, self willed, stiff necked, strongwilled, stubborn, tough, tumbler, uncompromising, unmanageable, unwilling, wayward, wilful, willful, wrong-headed), obstinado (ambivalent, balky, contumacious, die hard, dogged, dour, hard-mouthed, headstrong, mulish, non-ductile, obdurate, obstinate, peevish, pertinacious, recalcitrant, self willed, stiff necked, stolid, stubborn, tenacious, unredeemed, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrong-headed), insubmisso (rambunctious, ungovernable, unruly, unsubmissive), contumaz (contumacious, defaulter, obstinate, stubborn). (various references) refractar (fire-resisting, insubordinate, intractable, refractive, restive, ungovernable, unmanageable, unwilling), recalcitrant (recalcitrant), încãpãţânat (awkward, contumacious, die hard, dogged, dour, hard, headstrong, inveterate, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, opinioned, pertinacious, perverse, pig-headed, royalist, self willed, stolid, stubborn, tough, unwilling, wilful). (various references) огнеупорный (apyrous, fire proof, fireproof). (various references) uporan (aggressive, dogged, insistent, last ditch, obdurate, persistent, pertinacious, stubborn, tenacious, unremitting), jogunast (balky, baulky, capricious, difficult, obstinate, thwart). (various references) refractario (heat resistant, ovenproof, stubborn), reacio (adamant, balky, fractious, recalcitrant, reluctant, unwilling). (various references) uppstudsig (fresh, insubordinate), motspänstig (indocile, intractable, rebellious, recalcitrant), gensträvig. (various references) tedavisi güç, kolay işlenemez, inatçı (balky, bullet-head, bull-headed, cantankerous, contrary, contumacious, cussed, die hard, difficult, dogged, dour, fractious, hard bitten, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, hard-nosed, headstrong, heady, indocile, inflexible, insistent, intractable, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, obstinate person, opinionated, persistent, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, rebellious, recalcitrant, restive, self willed, self-opinionated, set, spiky, stern, sticker, stickler, sticky, stiff necked, strongheaded, strong-willed, stubborn, tenacious, unbending, uncompromising, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), dayanıklı (cast iron, consolidated, durable, enduring, fast, firm, for hard wear, gritty, hard, Hardy, heavy duty, impervious, impregnable, indestructible, invulnerable, keeping, lasting, long lasting, nonperishable, patient, proof, resistant, resistant to, resolute, runproof, sedulous, serviceable, sturdy, substantial, substantive, supportable, tough, unfading, wiry), aksi (adverse, awkward, bad tempered, bilious, bloody minded, cantankerous, contra, contra-, contrary, counter, crabbed, crabby, cross, cross-grained, crosspatch, crotchety, doggish, dour, evil, fractious, fretful, Froward, gruff, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-humored, ill-humoured, inverse, negatory, opposite, peevish, perverse, petulant, recalcitrant, reverse, shirty, snappish, snuffy, spleenful, spleenish, stroppy, stubborn, sullen, surly, tart, testy, unfavorable, unfavourable, unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky, untoward, wrongheaded), ısıya dayanıklı. (various references) тугоплавкий, вогнетривкий (apyrous, fireproof, infusible), несприйнятливий (insusceptible, irresponsive, unresponsive), непокірний (defiant, insubordinate, lawless, recalcitrant, unruly, unsubmissive, untoward). (various references) chịu nóng dai dẳng, bướng bỉnh (contrarious, contrary, contumacious, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, rambunctious, self-willed, stiff-necked, stubborn), bướng. (various references) anhywaith (intractable, restless, wild). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Refractory" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: refactory, refractories, rerfactory, reverbatory. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "refractory" (pronounced rufra"kterē) |
| 5 | -a" k t er ē | factory, olfactory, satisfactory, unsatisfactory. |
| 4 | -k t er ē | contradictory, directory, introductory, perfunctory, rectory, trajectory, valedictory, victory. |
| 3 | -t er ē | adultery, alimentary, artery, battery, blustery, buttery, complimentary, coterie, documentary, eatery, effrontery, flattery, glittery, history, jittery, lottery, mastery, mystery, notary, parliamentary, peremptory, pottery, premonitory, protohistory, rotary, rudimentary, sedimentary, splintery, supplementary, testamentary, upholstery, watery. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-f-o-r-r-r-t-y" | |
-1 letter: refractor. | |
-3 letters: carroty, creator, crofter, factory, forayer, reactor, recarry, rectory, refract, torrefy, tracery. | |
-4 letters: artery, carrot, carter, coater, crafty, crater, factor, farcer, forcer, frater, orfray, orrery, rafter, rarefy, rector, roarer, rotary, terror, tracer, trocar. | |
-5 letters: actor, afore, after, carer, caret, carry, carte, cater, corer, coyer, craft, crate, croft, crore, error, facer, facet, faery, farce, farcy, farer, ferry, fetor, foray, force, forte, forty, foyer, frore, fryer, oater, ocrea, ofter, orate, racer, rarer, rater, react, recta, recto, refry, retro, retry, taroc, tarre, tarry, teary, terra, terry, toyer, trace, yarer. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-f-o-r-r-r-t-y" | |
+2 letters: refractorily. | |
+3 letters: refractometry. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 65 66 72 61 63 74 6F 72 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. . ..-. .-. .- -.-. - --- .-. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01100101 01100110 01110010 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101111 01110010 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R e f r a c t o r y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0065 0066 0072 0061 0063 0074 006F 0072 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)52717284676986818491 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Historic 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Speeches 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
