Word of the Day for Tuesday July 23, 2002:
intractable \in-TRAK-tuh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Not easily governed, managed, or directed; stubborn;
obstinate; as, "an intractable child."
2. Not easily wrought or manipulated; as, "intractable
materials."
3. Not easily remedied, relieved, or dealt with; as,
"intractable problems."
Would their methods work with a child who was as violent
and intractable as Helen?
--Dorothy Herrmann, [1]Helen Keller: A Life
The efforts of a few artistic architects to treat the
cast-iron front only served to show how intractable the
material was.
--Robert A. M. Stern, Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman,
[2]New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded
Age
Many of the problems of government and society seem
intractable, while debate centered on policy issues appears
fruitless.
--Robert Shogan, [3]The Double-Edged Sword
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Intractable is from Latin intractabilis, from in-, "not" +
tractabilis, "manageable," from trahere, "to draw (along), to
drag, to pull." |
