How to Use intractable in a Sentence

intractable

adjective
  • Things have gotten so intractable that even this would be progress.
    — Author: E.j. Dionne Jr., Alaska Dispatch News, 19 June 2017
  • For decades, the debate around health care has been intractable.
    — James Breiding, Scientific American, 16 June 2021
  • Why do so many problems facing the state seem so intractable?
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 11 June 2025
  • The debate over wolves may seem like an intractable clash of values.
    — Justin Angle, The Conversation, 6 Jan. 2026
  • One of the old rules was that the gun-control debate was intractable.
    — Philip Bump, Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2018
  • That’s one of the reasons why this is proving so intractable.
    — Jen Kirby, Vox, 27 Nov. 2018
  • Even cities with the most intractable rents are seeing some cooling.
    — Anna Bahney, CNN, 30 Jan. 2024
  • But in some places, the worker shortfalls could prove more intractable.
    — Julia Horowitz, CNN, 29 June 2021
  • There are many intractable problems in the world today, but this is not one of them.
    — Terri Gerstein, New York Daily News, 23 July 2024
  • The heart and its foolish, intractable longings are the show’s first big theme.
    — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
  • These are intractable, meaty problems, the kinds avant-garde artists used to want to explore.
    — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 2 Sep. 2021
  • As all signs pointed to an intractable stalemate, news began to break of a deal.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Jan. 2023
  • But in fact the problem is much more intractable and difficult than that.
    — Thomas Wright, The Atlantic, 11 Nov. 2025
  • The good news is that perfectionism is not an intractable trait.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 6 Jan. 2023
  • Fuller had back and neck pain and fibromyalgia—not cancer or intractable pain from it.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 7 Sep. 2017
  • American health care has many intractable problems; this shouldn’t be one of them.
    — Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 15 Feb. 2026
  • The crisis shows just how intractable even the most preventable forms of gun violence can be.
    — Suzy Khimm, NBC News, 3 July 2024
  • All this in the face of wars and the intractable conflict with the Palestinians in its midst.
    — The Economist, 26 Oct. 2017
  • Ben’s stories about Howard, that enthralled us to the point of intractable fandom.
    — Malina Saval, Variety, 6 Sep. 2022
  • The decades-old conflict in the Middle East has been one of the most intractable in the world.
    — Joel Thayer, Newsweek, 27 Jan. 2025
  • This is also true for the intractable behavioral health challenges.
    — Jessica Magidson, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2025
  • There's also the intractable issue of where and how to store the deadly radioactive waste.
    — Star Tribune, 26 Jan. 2021
  • Pancreatic cancer is one of the most intractable forms of the disease.
    — Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Jan. 2024
  • But there are many options for addressing even what feels like the most intractable grief, therapists said.
    — Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Now, at the start of the third year of AI college, the problem seems as intractable as ever.
    — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2024
  • But the issue is one of the most intractable subjects in Washington, so the odds of a near-term deal look slim.
    — Mackenzie Hawkins, Fortune, 8 Aug. 2023
  • But the therapeutic age is now more than a century old, and the problem has proved intractable.
    — Vivian Gornick, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2025
  • This is why these biases are so intractable, despite the conscious intentions many of us have to be rid of them.
    — Letters To The Editor, Hartford Courant, 16 Jan. 2026
  • Still, intractable issues remain.
    — Nbc News, NBC news, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Both offsets and carbon pricing have near-intractable structural problems.
    — Jessica F. Green, Foreign Affairs, 7 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'intractable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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