cantankerous
disagreeable to deal with; contentious; peevish: a cantankerous, argumentative man.
Origin of cantankerous
1Other words from cantankerous
- can·tan·ker·ous·ly, adverb
- can·tan·ker·ous·ness, noun
Words Nearby cantankerous
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cantankerous in a sentence
If you’re dreading Thanksgiving with your cantankerous relatives, a pre-meal run could get you through the day.
Your last-minute training guide to dominating this year’s Turkey Trot | Claire Maldarelli | November 21, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThe very things that make this the kind of book you could hand to a cop, a neighbor or a cantankerous uncle may make it unsatisfying for more sophisticated readers.
What you think you know about poverty is probably wrong | Rosa Brooks | March 19, 2021 | Washington PostTo Chicago he was still two-fisted, hard-drinking, cantankerous.
The Stacks: John Schulian’s Classic Profile of Newspaper Columnist Mike Royko | John Schulian | January 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI still remember how disappointed I was by this cantankerous book.
The Smartest Book About Our Digital Age Was Published in 1929 | Ted Gioia | January 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFirst up, a classic profile of the cantankerous but lovable Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko.
The Stacks: John Schulian’s Classic Profile of Newspaper Columnist Mike Royko | John Schulian | January 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The most dangerous animal to encounter when walking, I discovered, is not a lion but a cantankerous male buffalo.
Walking With Wildebeests: Exploring the Serengeti on Foot | Joanna Eede | July 9, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was ugly, cantankerous, simple enough for any farmhand to understand and fix, and indomitable.
As a rule even the most cantankerous women are placable after afternoon tea.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume II (of 3) | Charles James WillsIt's no wonder he drinks, hitched up to a cantankerous old hyena like that.
Quin | Alice Hegan RiceSome of the men I have to deal with are as bat-blind as they are cantankerous.
That Lass O' Lowrie's | Frances Hodgson BurnettEvery one recognises that cantankerous obstructiveness would only make matters worse, nay, absolutely intolerable.
America To-day, Observations and Reflections | William ArcherI turned away to pay off my taxi, the driver of which was very cantankerous and abusive over his fare.
The Poison Belt | Arthur Conan Doyle
British Dictionary definitions for cantankerous
/ (kænˈtæŋkərəs) /
quarrelsome; irascible
Origin of cantankerous
1Derived forms of cantankerous
- cantankerously, adverb
- cantankerousness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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