intractable
adjective
Simple meaning
Difficult to deal with, solve.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihntraktuhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪntˈɹæktəbəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Difficult to deal with, solve, or manage. (of a problem)
Not tractable; difficult to manage or mold
Not tractable; not able to be managed, controlled, governed or directed.
Stubborn; obstinate. (of a person)
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Difficult to deal with, solve, or manage. (of a problem)
Used this way, intractable is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- balking , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use intractable
- “An intractable disposition.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: difficult to deal with or solve
Antonyms
Sense: difficult to deal with or solve
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.