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A.Word.A.Day--refractory

refractory (ri-FRAK-tuhr-ree)

adjective:
1. Hard to manage; stubborn.
2. Resistant to usual methods or treatment.
3. Difficult to fuse: resistant to high temperature.

noun:
A heat-resistant material.

[From alteration of refractary, from Latin refractarius (stubborn), from refractus, past participle of refringere (to break up), from re- + frangere (to break).]

"There is nothing so awful - whether a week's-worth of rain, a marital quarrel, a refractory child - that it cannot be resolved in the kitchen."
Keith Botsford; Season of Soups and Mellow Vegetableness; The Independent (London, UK); Nov 6, 1993.

"Though the Nobel laureate (William Faulkner) could often be indulgent with children, he was essentially a withdrawn and refractory man."
Michael Dirda; Mississippi in the Summer!; The Washington Post; Aug 11, 2002.

See more usage examples of refractory in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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