Meaning & use
refractory
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparableformal
Hard to manage or control, and obstinate in resisting orders or advice.
Grammar: Can come before a noun or after be: a refractory child.
Patterns
- a refractory child
- be refractory to something
The refractory mule refused to cross the river however hard they pulled.
The teacher struggled with a refractory class that ignored every instruction.
He had a refractory temper that no one could soften.
adjectivecomparablemedicaltechnical
Not responding to treatment or to usual methods of cure.
Grammar: Often used before a noun such as disease or case.
Patterns
- refractory to treatment
- refractory disease
Her refractory migraines did not improve with any of the usual drugs.
The doctors tried a new therapy for the refractory infection.
Refractory epilepsy continues despite standard medication.
adjectivebefore a nountechnicalspecialist
Able to survive very high temperatures without melting or breaking down.
Grammar: Used mostly before a noun in engineering: refractory bricks.
Patterns
- refractory brick
- refractory metal
Furnaces are lined with refractory bricks that withstand extreme heat.
Tungsten is a refractory metal with a very high melting point.
The kiln's refractory lining protects the steel walls.
Common combinations
- refractory to treatment
- The infection proved refractory to treatment.
- refractory period
- Nerves have a short refractory period before they can fire again.
- refractory material
- The furnace is built of refractory material.
- refractory brick
- A refractory brick can withstand temperatures of over a thousand degrees.
- refractory child
- The story features a refractory child who defies everyone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unmanageable
- Unmanageable is plainer and suggests something simply too hard to handle, whereas refractory implies stubborn resistance.
- obstinate
- Obstinate describes a person's stubborn attitude only, while refractory can also describe diseases and materials.
- stubborn
- Stubborn is the everyday word and is warmer, whereas refractory sounds formal and a bit more severe.
- heat-resistant
- Heat-resistant is a plain description, whereas refractory is the precise technical term in engineering.
Opposites
Word family
- refractoriness noun
- the quality of being stubborn or resistant
- refractorily adverb
- in a stubbornly resistant manner
- refractory noun
- a heat-resistant material used to line furnaces
- refract verb
- to bend a ray of light as it passes through something
Commonly confused: refractory or refractive? refractory or reflective?
refractory vs refractive
Refractive relates to the bending of light, as in refractive index. Refractory relates to resistance or stubbornness.
refractory vs reflective
Reflective means throwing back light, or thinking carefully. It is not related to heat resistance.
Practice
The doctors described her illness as refractory, meaning it ___.
Choose one answer.
In medicine, refractory means resistant to the usual treatments. A fast-moving or contagious illness would be described with other words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “refractory”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.