contentious
AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Adjective (2)
- inclined or showing an inclination to dispute or disagree, even to engage in law suits“a style described as abrasive and contentious”“a disputatious lawyer”“a litigious and acrimonious spirit”Synonyms: combativedisputatiousdisputativelitigiousOpposite unargumentativeSimilar argumentative
- involving or likely to cause controversy“a central and contentious element of the book — Tim W.Ferfuson”Opposite noncontroversialSimilar controversial
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: L. contentiosus: cf. F. contentieux.
1. Fond of contention; given to angry debate; provoking dispute or contention; quarrelsome.
Despotic and contentious temper.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
2. Relating to contention or strife; involving or characterized by contention. Edmund Spenser
More cheerful, though not less contentious, regions.— Lord Henry Brougham
3. Law Contested; litigated; litigious; having power to decide controversy.
Contentious jurisdiction Eng. Eccl. Law, jurisdiction over matters in controversy between parties, in contradistinction to voluntary jurisdiction, or that exercised upon matters not opposed or controverted.
Synonyms: Quarrelsome; pugnacious; dissentious; wrangling; litigious; perverse; peevish.
— Con·ten′wb-a1′>′tious·ly, adverb — Con·ten′wb-a1′>′tious·ness, noun
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54