- fractious
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adjective
Etymology: fraction (discord) + -ous
Date: 1714
1. tending to be troublesome ; unruly <a fractious crowd> 2. quarrelsome, irritable • fractiously adverb • fractiousness noun
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
fractious
Look at other dictionaries:
Fractious — Frac tious, a. [Cf. Prov. E. frack forward, eager, E. freak, fridge; or Prov. E. fratch to squabble, quarrel.] Apt to break out into a passion; apt to scold; cross; snappish; ugly; unruly; as, a fractious man; a fractious horse. Syn: Snappish;… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
fractious — I adjective apt to quarrel, bad tempered, bearish, bickering, cantankerous, captious, carping, caviling, choleric, churlish, complaining, contentious, contrary, crabby, cranky, cross, cross grained, crusty, difficilis, difficult, disposed to… … Law dictionary
fractious — 1725, from FRACTION (Cf. fraction) in an obsolete sense of a brawling, discord (c.1500) + OUS (Cf. ous); probably on model of captious. Related: Fractiously; fractiousness … Etymology dictionary
fractious — *irritable, peevish, snappish, waspish, petulant, pettish, huffy, fretful, querulous Analogous words: *unruly, refractory, recalcitrant, ungovernable, intractable, willful: perverse, Contrary, froward, restive, wayward Contrasted words:… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
fractious — [adj] grouchy, cross awkward, captious, crabby*, disorderly, fretful, froward, huffy*, indocile, indomitable, intractable, irritable, mean, ornery*, peevish, perverse, pettish, petulant, querulous, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, scrappy,… … New thesaurus
fractious — ► ADJECTIVE 1) easily irritated. 2) difficult to control. DERIVATIVES fractiously adverb fractiousness noun. ORIGIN from FRACTION(Cf. ↑fraction), probably on the pattern of faction, factious … English terms dictionary
fractious — [frak′shəs] adj. [prob. < FRACTION (in obs. sense “discord”) + OUS] 1. hard to manage; unruly; rebellious; refractory 2. peevish; irritable; cross fractiously adv. fractiousness n … English World dictionary
fractious — [[t]fræ̱kʃəs[/t]] ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you describe someone as fractious, you disapprove of them because they become upset or angry very quickly about small unimportant things. ...fractious national movements. ...in a fractious mood... The … English dictionary
fractious — factious, factitious, fractious Factious means ‘characterized by faction or dissension’, as in factious quarrelling, whereas factitious means ‘contrived, artificial’, as in factitious reasoning; both words are related to Latin facere ‘to do’ but… … Modern English usage
fractious — frac|tious [ˈfrækʃəs] adj [Date: 1600 1700; Origin: fraction lack of agreement (16 18 centuries)] someone who is fractious becomes angry very easily = ↑irritable ▪ Children become fractious when they are tired. fractious baby/child etc… … Dictionary of contemporary English
fractious — fractiously, adv. fractiousness, n. /frak sheuhs/, adj. 1. refractory or unruly: a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness. 2. readily angered; peevish; irritable; quarrelsome: an incorrigibly fractious young man. [1715 25;… … Universalium
