Refractory Definition

rĭ-frăktə-rē
refractories
adjective
Showing or characterized by obstinate resistance to authority or control.
Refractory children; refractory behavior.
American Heritage
Hard to manage; stubborn; obstinate.
Webster's New World
Resistant to heat; hard to melt or work.
Webster's New World
Not yielding to treatment, as a disease.
Webster's New World
Able to resist disease.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
noun
refractories
Something refractory; specif., a heat-resistant material used in lining furnaces, etc.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
  • furnace lining

Other Word Forms of Refractory

Noun

Singular:
refractory
Plural:
refractories

Origin of Refractory

  • Alteration (influenced by adjectives in –ory) of obsolete refractary from Latin refrāctārius from refrāctus past participle of refringere to break up refract

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin refractārius (“obstinate"), from refractus, past participle of refringere (“to break up"). Originally refractary reanalysed after other adjectives in -ory

    From Wiktionary

Refractory Sentence Examples

  • The Convention took measures against the emigres and the refractory priests.

  • Fire-clays include all those varieties of clay which are very refractory to heat.

  • The materials used in the construction of furnaces are divisible into two classes, namely, ordinary and refractory or fire-resisting.

  • In this process all the anode metals pass into solution except iridium and other refractory metals of that group, which remain as metals, and silver, which is converted into insoluble chloride; lead and bismuth form chloride and oxychloride respectively, and these dissolve until the bath is saturated with them, and then precipitate with the silver in the tank.

  • The cyanide process, introduced about 1890, is now one of the most important factors in the utilization of low-grade and refractory gold and silver ores.

More Sentences

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to refractory using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

RREREF

Words Ending With

YRYORY

Unscrambles

refractory

Words Starting With R and Ending With Y

Starts With R & Ends With YStarts With RE & Ends With YStarts With R & Ends With RY

Word Length

10 Letter Words10 Letter Words Starting With R10 Letter Words Ending With Y