Fractious

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈfræk.ʃəs/

Origin

fraction("discord, (now obsolete)") + -ous

Full definition of fractious

Adjective

1. given to troublemaking
2. irritable; argumentative; quarrelsome
• 2012, November 7, Matt Bai, Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.
• 1847, Charlotte Brontë, , Smith, Elder & Company, London, page ,…in his present fractious mood, she dared whisper no observations, nor ask of him any information.

Derived terms

• fractiously
• fractiousness