Standard Lemma guide

refractoriness

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being refractory.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • 2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Alfred A. Knopf (2001), 8, Uncle loved the desnsity of the tungsten he made, and its refractoriness, its great chemical stability.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the trait of being unmanageable

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unmanageableness, recalcitrance, recalcitrancy

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: intractability, intractableness

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English refractory Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English refractoriness From refractory + -ness.