Intractable
adjective
Difficult to control or deal with.
The struggling economy is an intractable problem that needs to be solved.
Often appears as...
- intractable problem
- intractable pain
adjective
Refusing to change your views or to agree about something.
His intractable nature made it difficult for him to agree with anyone else's ideas.
Often appears as...
- intractable nature
- intractable stance
adjective
Difficult or impossible to manipulate or mold into a desired form.
The material was intractable and could not be shaped as desired.
Often appears as...
- intractable material
- intractable metal
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Difficult to control or deal with.
The struggling economy is an intractable problem that needs to be solved.
Often appears as...
- intractable problem
- intractable pain
adjective
Refusing to change your views or to agree about something.
His intractable nature made it difficult for him to agree with anyone else's ideas.
Often appears as...
- intractable nature
- intractable stance
adjective
Difficult or impossible to manipulate or mold into a desired form.
The material was intractable and could not be shaped as desired.
Often appears as...
- intractable material
- intractable metal
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Hard to Solve
Used for problems with no easy solution, typically social, political, or economic issues.
Global warming is an intractable issue, affected by various global factors.
Pro Tip 2/3Persistent Issue
Implies that the problem is not only difficult but also enduring over time.
The war has become an intractable conflict, with no end in sight.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Literal
Often used metaphorically to describe abstract dilemmas, not just physical struggles.
He grapples with the intractable dilemma of choosing career over family.
Pro Tip 1/3Hard to Solve
Used for problems with no easy solution, typically social, political, or economic issues.
Global warming is an intractable issue, affected by various global factors.
Pro Tip 2/3Persistent Issue
Implies that the problem is not only difficult but also enduring over time.
The war has become an intractable conflict, with no end in sight.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Literal
Often used metaphorically to describe abstract dilemmas, not just physical struggles.
He grapples with the intractable dilemma of choosing career over family.
Pro Tip 1/3Hard to Solve
Used for problems with no easy solution, typically social, political, or economic issues.
Global warming is an intractable issue, affected by various global factors.
Pro Tip 2/3Persistent Issue
Implies that the problem is not only difficult but also enduring over time.
The war has become an intractable conflict, with no end in sight.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Literal
Often used metaphorically to describe abstract dilemmas, not just physical struggles.
He grapples with the intractable dilemma of choosing career over family.
Compare with
difficultheadstrongmanageableobstinaterecalcitrancerefractorystubbornunrulyyield
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Video examples
Does racism affect how...
get when you go to college where you do kind of get a mix of people that you might not interact with otherwise but the point is this is all good news because when something is predictable it's what I call design a book we can start thinking about solutions to solving that problem even a problem is pernicious and as intractable as racism
Video examples
How porn changes the way...
And all anyone had done was say that one word -- pornography. That moment would prove to be an important turning point for me and my professional mission of finding solutions to end dating and sexual violence. At that point, I'd been working for more than a decade on this seemingly intractable problem of dating violence.
Video examples
Courtney Martin:...
What I learned from these people and others was that I couldn't judge them based on their failure to meet their very lofty goals. Many of them are working in deeply intractable systems -- the military, congress, the education system, etc. But what they managed to do within those systems
Video examples
Tom Chatfield: 7 ways...
It all feeds in as minute reinforcement. Fourth, feedback. This is absolutely crucial, and virtuality is dazzling at delivering this. If you look at some of the most intractable problems in the world today that we've been hearing amazing things about,
Video examples
A Belief in Black Magic...
We must kill them then. We must kill them then. This man, this priest, whose own wife was falsely accused, still believes that witches must be punished. In so many ways this tells me how deep and intractable the belief in is here.
Video examples
I grew up in the...
not just for them but for us and our future. Escalating disgust and intractable conflict are not what we want for ourselves, or our country or our next generation. My mom said something to me a few weeks before I left Westboro,
Video examples
The voices in my head PIPE...
and incapable of establishing any kind of peace or reconciliation. Two years later, and the deterioration was dramatic. By now, I had the whole frenzied terrifying voices, grotesque visions, bizarre, intractable delusions.
Video examples
What are the most...
Then, when we look to the future, there could be so much more to gain again. We'll be so much richer, we can solve so many problems that are intractable today. So if this is kind of a graph of how humanity has progressed
Video examples
How mRNA Medicine Will...
As I said before, the advent of mRNA vaccines is heralding in an entirely new era of medicines. mRNAs give us the ability to not only prevent disease but also treat previously intractable disorders.
Video examples
Advocating for gender...
it's the best thing that's happened to the UN in our lifetime it might even change the culture of that obtuse intractable impenetrable male fortress
Video examples
Does racism affect how...
get when you go to college where you do kind of get a mix of people that you might not interact with otherwise but the point is this is all good news because when something is predictable it's what I call design a book we can start thinking about solutions to solving that problem even a problem is pernicious and as intractable as racism
Video examples
How porn changes the way...
And all anyone had done was say that one word -- pornography. That moment would prove to be an important turning point for me and my professional mission of finding solutions to end dating and sexual violence. At that point, I'd been working for more than a decade on this seemingly intractable problem of dating violence.
Video examples
Courtney Martin:...
What I learned from these people and others was that I couldn't judge them based on their failure to meet their very lofty goals. Many of them are working in deeply intractable systems -- the military, congress, the education system, etc. But what they managed to do within those systems
Video examples
Tom Chatfield: 7 ways...
It all feeds in as minute reinforcement. Fourth, feedback. This is absolutely crucial, and virtuality is dazzling at delivering this. If you look at some of the most intractable problems in the world today that we've been hearing amazing things about,
Video examples
A Belief in Black Magic...
We must kill them then. We must kill them then. This man, this priest, whose own wife was falsely accused, still believes that witches must be punished. In so many ways this tells me how deep and intractable the belief in is here.
Video examples
I grew up in the...
not just for them but for us and our future. Escalating disgust and intractable conflict are not what we want for ourselves, or our country or our next generation. My mom said something to me a few weeks before I left Westboro,
Video examples
The voices in my head PIPE...
and incapable of establishing any kind of peace or reconciliation. Two years later, and the deterioration was dramatic. By now, I had the whole frenzied terrifying voices, grotesque visions, bizarre, intractable delusions.
Video examples
What are the most...
Then, when we look to the future, there could be so much more to gain again. We'll be so much richer, we can solve so many problems that are intractable today. So if this is kind of a graph of how humanity has progressed
Video examples
How mRNA Medicine Will...
As I said before, the advent of mRNA vaccines is heralding in an entirely new era of medicines. mRNAs give us the ability to not only prevent disease but also treat previously intractable disorders.
Video examples
Advocating for gender...
it's the best thing that's happened to the UN in our lifetime it might even change the culture of that obtuse intractable impenetrable male fortress
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Paul Greengrass
English Director
I've seen a lot of political violence in my life. I know what it looks like. I know what it smells like. I know what motivates young men to do it. I've talked to them about it. I know what victims feel like, you know? I know the abominable effect it has on politics. I know how intractable it is.
Quote examples
Alain de Botton
English Writer
The Arab-Israeli conflict is also in many ways a conflict about status: it's a war between two peoples who feel deeply humiliated by the other, who want the other to respect them. Battles over status can be even more intractable than those over land or water or oil.
Quote examples
Hilary Mantel
English Writer
The novelist has a responsibility to adhere to the facts as closely as possible, and if they are inconvenient, that's where the art comes in. You must work with intractable facts and find the dramatic shape inside them.
Quote examples
Sharan Burrow
Welsh Activist
Globalization has much potential. It could be the answer to many of the world's seemingly intractable problems. But this requires strong democratic foundations based on a political will to ensure equity and justice.
Quote examples
Clayton M. Christensen
American Author
If we are to develop profound theory to solve the intractable problems in our societally-critical domains... we must learn to crawl into the life of what makes people tick.
Quote examples
Ben Bernanke
American Public Servant
Honest error in the face of complex and possibly intractable problems is a far more important source of bad results than are bad motives.
Quote examples
Priyamvada Natarajan
Indian Scientist
I'm an astrophysicist and a professor, so my day job involves manipulating intractable numbers that characterize our universe.
Quote examples
Katherine Boo
American Journalist
A great deal of what is presumed to be intractable or inevitable in this world doesn't strike me that way at all.
Quote examples
Joe Lonsdale
American Businessman
Many of humanity's most intractable challenges will only be solved through market-driven innovation.
Quote examples
Stacey Abrams
American Politician
I like solving problems that seem intractable. That's how I thrive.
Quote examples
Paul Greengrass
English Director
I've seen a lot of political violence in my life. I know what it looks like. I know what it smells like. I know what motivates young men to do it. I've talked to them about it. I know what victims feel like, you know? I know the abominable effect it has on politics. I know how intractable it is.
Quote examples
Alain de Botton
English Writer
The Arab-Israeli conflict is also in many ways a conflict about status: it's a war between two peoples who feel deeply humiliated by the other, who want the other to respect them. Battles over status can be even more intractable than those over land or water or oil.
Quote examples
Hilary Mantel
English Writer
The novelist has a responsibility to adhere to the facts as closely as possible, and if they are inconvenient, that's where the art comes in. You must work with intractable facts and find the dramatic shape inside them.
Quote examples
Sharan Burrow
Welsh Activist
Globalization has much potential. It could be the answer to many of the world's seemingly intractable problems. But this requires strong democratic foundations based on a political will to ensure equity and justice.
Quote examples
Clayton M. Christensen
American Author
If we are to develop profound theory to solve the intractable problems in our societally-critical domains... we must learn to crawl into the life of what makes people tick.
Quote examples
Ben Bernanke
American Public Servant
Honest error in the face of complex and possibly intractable problems is a far more important source of bad results than are bad motives.
Quote examples
Priyamvada Natarajan
Indian Scientist
I'm an astrophysicist and a professor, so my day job involves manipulating intractable numbers that characterize our universe.
Quote examples
Katherine Boo
American Journalist
A great deal of what is presumed to be intractable or inevitable in this world doesn't strike me that way at all.
Quote examples
Joe Lonsdale
American Businessman
Many of humanity's most intractable challenges will only be solved through market-driven innovation.
Quote examples
Stacey Abrams
American Politician
I like solving problems that seem intractable. That's how I thrive.
Example 1 of 10
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