Adjective

(en adjective)

Obstinate and unruly; strongly opposed to something.

*

* 1836 , ,

Mr. Weller knocked at the door, and after a pretty long interval—occupied by the party without, in whistling a tune, and by the party within, in persuading a refractory flat candle to allow itself to be lighted

Not affected by great heat.

* '>citation

(medicine) Difficult to treat.

* 1949 , Albert Fields and John Hoesley, " Neck and Shoulder Pain", Calif. Med. , 70(6):478–482.,

Many of the vague and refractory cases of neck and shoulder pain and of migraine may be due to cervical disc disease.

* 1990 , H. A. Ring et al'', " Vigabatrin: rational treatment for chronic epilepsy", ''J. Neurol. Neurosurg.Psychiatry , 53(12):1051–1055,

In 33 adult patients with long standing refractory epilepsy on treatment with one or two standard anti-convulsant drugs,

(biology) Incapable of registering a reaction or stimulus.

* 1959 , Nobusada Ishiko and Werner R. Loewenstein, " Electrical output of a receptor membrane]", [[w:Science (journal), Science] , 1959, 130:1405-6,

The production of a generator potential leaves a refractory state in the receptor membrane

* 1970 , S.S. Barold et al'', " Chest wall stimulation in evaluation of patients with implanted ventricular-inhibited demand pacemakers", ''Br. Heart J. , 32(6):783–789,

The delineates the pacemaker refractory period after the emission of a pacing stimulus and after the sensing of a spontaneous beat.

Adjective

(en adjective)

Not manageable; not readily submitting to handling or management; not easily restrained, governed, or directed; not controllable.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Joseph Stiglitz)

, volume=188, issue=26, page=19, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Globalisation is about taxes too , passage=It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable , unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most advanced countries today […].}}