Intractable
Etymology
From Latin "intractabilis," from in- (not) and "tractabilis" (manageable), which comes from "tractare" (to handle, to manage), a frequentative of "trahere" (to drag, to pull). The literal sense is "not able to be handled" — something that resists being taken in hand — and it applies equally to a disease, a dispute, or a difficult temperament.
adjective · /in-TRAK-tuh-buhl/
Hard to control, manage, or solve; stubbornly resistant.
What it names
A precise word for problems (and occasionally people) that defeat every attempt at handling — the ones that will not yield.
Example
The negotiators finally admitted the border dispute was intractable and settled for a fragile truce.
Related idea
Stubborn usually describes a person’s will; intractable more often describes a problem or situation that resists every attempted solution.