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Definition of "intractable" []

  • Difficult to manage or govern; stubborn. See Synonyms at unruly. (adjective)
  • Difficult to mold or manipulate: intractable materials. (adjective)
  • Difficult to alleviate, remedy, or cure: intractable pain. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "intractable" in a sentence
  • "This pattern has developed into a state that conflict scholars label intractable and that mathematicians call an attractor: the Israel-Palestinian conflict has thus become an intractable attractor."
  • "So any perception by conservatives that progressives are intractable is itself only further demonstration of THEIR absolute unwillingness to engage in anything which might, by even the most reckless stretch of the imagination, ever be mistaken for reasoned discourse or genuine political interchange."
  • "The story is already stale and yet it continues to remain intractable, organizationally and professionally, for most media organizations."