refractory
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Obstinate and unruly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ruhfraktereeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹəfˈɹæktɚi
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
Obstinate and unruly; strongly opposed to something.
medicine
Resistant to treatment; not responding adequately to therapy.
Not affected by great heat.
noun
Lining consisting of material with a high melting point; used to line the inside walls of a furnace
A material or piece of material, such as a brick, that has a very high melting point.
A plant or factory that produces such material.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Obstinate and unruly; strongly opposed to something.
Used this way, refractory is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: obstinate and unruly
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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.