Word
intractable
Phoneticsin·tractable
US/ˌɪnˈtɹæktəbəɫ/
UK/ɪntɹˈæktəbəl/
Definition
adj. describing a problem or situation that is very difficult to fix or control. It is often used for things that seem impossible to solve no matter how hard you try.
adj. refusing to be controlled, managed, or solved; resistant to treatment or correction. Often describes mathematical problems or medical conditions that defy standard solutions.
Examples
“The doctors found the infection to be intractable.”
“The researchers struggled for years to find a cure for the intractable disease that had plagued the region.”
“Mathematicians often classify certain equations as intractable because they lack a general solution that can be applied across all possible variables.”
Examples
simple
“The doctors found the infection to be intractable.”
contextual
“The researchers struggled for years to find a cure for the intractable disease that had plagued the region.”
complex
“Mathematicians often classify certain equations as intractable because they lack a general solution that can be applied across all possible variables.”
Real-World Examples
“Much of what Philip observes in the Middle East, and his “foreboding” sense of its intractable problems, only confirms his despairing sense of human nature.” “Scientists used a new error correction strategy to encode 70 logical qubits and tackle a problem considered classically intractable.” Etymology
From in- + tractable.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/intractable