<p><strong>adjective</strong></p><ul><li>hard or impossible to manage; stubbornly disobedient: a refractory child.</li><li>Synonyms: ungovernable, recalcitrant, disobedient, intractable, headstrong, mulish, perverse, obstinate.</li><li>Antonyms: tractable, obedient.</li><li>resisting ordinary methods of treatment.</li><li>difficult to fuse, reduce, or work, as an ore or metal.</li></ul><p><strong>noun</strong></p><ul><li>plural refractories.</li><li>a material having the ability to retain its physical shape and chemical identity when subjected to high temperatures.</li><li>refractories, bricks of various shapes used in lining furnaces.</li></ul>