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View synonyms for captious

captious

[ kap-shuhs ]

adjective

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

    Synonyms: testy, picky, niggling, carping

  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, especially in argument:

    captious questions.



captious

/ ˈkæpʃəs /

adjective

  1. apt to make trivial criticisms; fault-finding; carping


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Derived Forms

  • ˈcaptiously, adverb
  • ˈcaptiousness, noun

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Other Words From

  • captious·ly adverb
  • captious·ness noun
  • non·captious adjective
  • non·captious·ly adverb
  • non·captious·ness noun
  • over·captious adjective
  • over·captious·ly adverb
  • over·captious·ness noun
  • un·captious adjective
  • un·captious·ly adverb
  • un·captious·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of captious1

1350–1400; Middle English capcious < Latin captiōsus sophistical, equivalent to capti ( ō ) a taking, hence, sophism ( caption ) + -ōsus -ous

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Word History and Origins

Origin of captious1

C14 (meaning: catching in error): from Latin captiōsus, from captiō a seizing; see caption

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Example Sentences

The human sweetness in him was half dried up, and a misanthropy, so new and alien to him, made him querulous and captious.

But the real Hynde Horn in the dear old ballad had a truelove who was not captious and capricious and cold like Francesca.

"There, you hear that," said Lawless, who had just drunk enough to render him captious and obstinate.

The Pharisees, always captious and controversial, sought to entangle the Savior in a discussion on the subject of divorce.

A captious eye might have marked it as somewhat lacking—somewhat too round and ready, like the ripple on a pan of water.

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captioncaptivate