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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

cap·tious

Audio Help [kap-shuh

s] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.

2.	proceeding from a faultfinding or caviling disposition: He could never praise without adding a captious remark.

3.	apt or designed to ensnare or perplex, esp. in argument: captious questions.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME capcious < L captiōsus sophistical, equiv. to capti(ō) a taking, hence, sophism (see caption) + -ōsus -ous

]

—Related forms

cap·tious·ly, adverb

cap·tious·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. carping, nitpicking, niggling, picky, testy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Captious

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

cap·tious Audio Help (kāp'shəs) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Marked by a disposition to find and point out trivial faults: a captious scholar.
Intended to entrap or confuse, as in an argument: a captious question.

[Middle English capcious, from Old French captieux, from Latin captiōsus, from captiō, seizure, sophism, from captus, past participle of capere, to seize; see kap- in Indo-European roots.]

cap'tious·ly adv., cap'tious·ness n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
captious

c.1408, from M.Fr. captieux, from L. captiosus, from captio "a deceiving, fallacious argument," lit. "a taking (in)," from capere "to take, catch" (see capable).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

captious
adjective
tending to find and call attention to faults; "a captious pedant"; "an excessively demanding and faultfinding tutor"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Captious

Cap"tious\, a. [F. captieux, L. captiosus. See Caption.]

1. Apt to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to cavil; eager to object; difficult to please.

A captious and suspicious age. --Stillingfleet.

I am sensible I have not disposed my materials to abide the test of a captious controversy. --Bwike.

2. Fitted to harass, perplex, or insnare; insidious; troublesome.

Captious restraints on navigation. --Bancroft.

Syn: Caviling, carping, fault-finding; censorious; hypercritical; peevish, fretful; perverse; troublesome.

Usage: Captious, caviling, Carping. A captious person is one who has a fault-finding habit or manner, or is disposed to catch at faults, errors, etc., with quarrelsome intent; a caviling person is disposed to raise objections on frivolous grounds; carping implies that one is given to ill-natured, persistent, or unreasonable fault-finding, or picking up of the words or actions of others.

Caviling is the carping of argument, carping the caviling of ill temper. --C. J. Smith.

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