Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Stubbornly resistant to authority or control: Describes a person, animal, or thing that is unmanageable, disobedient, or difficult to control.
   • Temporarily unresponsive or not fully responsive to a stimulus: Used in medical, neurological, or physiological contexts to describe a period or state where a cell, organ, or system does not respond to a stimulus.
   • Not responding to treatment: Describes a disease, condition, or symptom that is resistant to standard medical treatments or therapies.

2. Noun:

   • A heat-resistant material: A material, such as brick or ceramic, that can withstand very high temperatures, used to line industrial furnaces, kilns, or reactors.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The refractory student refused to follow any of the classroom rules.
  • After an action potential, a nerve cell enters a refractory period during which it cannot fire again immediately.
  • The doctor was concerned about the patient's refractory hypertension, which did not improve with medication.

• Noun:

  • The furnace was lined with a special refractory to contain the intense heat.

Advanced Usage

• "Refractory to": This prepositional phrase is commonly used to indicate what something is resistant or unresponsive to.
  • The infection proved refractory to all known antibiotics.
  • Some forms of epilepsy are refractory to conventional drug treatments.

Variants and Related Words

• Refractoriness (noun): The quality or state of being refractory.
  • The refractoriness of the material makes it ideal for industrial use.
• Refractory period (noun phrase): A specific term in physiology for the recovery phase after a nerve impulse or muscle contraction.
  • The absolute refractory period ensures nerve impulses travel in one direction.

Synonyms

• Adjective (for stubbornness): Unruly, recalcitrant, obstinate, intractable.
• Adjective (for unresponsiveness): Resistant, unyielding, insusceptible.
• Noun: Firebrick, heat-resistant lining.

Antonyms

• Adjective: Compliant, obedient, manageable, responsive, tractable.

Adjective

1. stubbornly resistant to authority or control
   • a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness
   • a refractory child
2. temporarily unresponsive or not fully responsive to nervous or sexual stimuli
   • the refractory period of a muscle fiber
3. not responding to treatment
   • a stubborn infection
   • a refractory case of acne
   • stubborn rust stains

Noun

1. lining consisting of material with a high melting point; used to line the inside walls of a furnace