captious

[kap-shuhs]

See more synonyms for captious on Thesaurus.com

adjective

apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.
proceeding from a faultfinding or caviling disposition: He could never praise without adding a captious remark.
apt or designed to ensnare or perplex, especially in argument: captious questions.

Origin of captious

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

Related formscap·tious·ly, adverbcap·tious·ness, nounnon·cap·tious, adjectivenon·cap·tious·ly, adverbnon·cap·tious·ness, nouno·ver·cap·tious, adjectiveo·ver·cap·tious·ly, adverbo·ver·cap·tious·ness, nounun·cap·tious, adjectiveun·cap·tious·ly, adverbun·cap·tious·ness, noun

Synonyms for captious

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for captious

acrimonious, cantankerous, carping, censorious, contrary, crabby, cross, demanding, disparaging, exacting, fault-finding, finicky, hypercritical, irritable, peevish, perverse, petulant, sarcastic, severe, testy

Examples from the Web for captious

Historical Examples of captious

What a captious old woman will my sister make, if she lives to be one!
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
He is critical, but not captious; laudatory, but not fulsome.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, November 18, 1914
Various
I cannot afford to be irritable and captious, nor to waste all my time in attacks.
Essays, Second Series
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sewell, however, was no captious critic; he took what he got, and was thankful.
Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I.
Charles James Lever
If one were captious, one might object to the thickness of his lips.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, May, 1930
Various

British Dictionary definitions for captious

captious

adjective

apt to make trivial criticisms; fault-finding; carping

Derived Formscaptiously, adverbcaptiousness, noun

Word Origin for captious

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

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

Word Origin and History for captious

adj.

c.1400, capcyus, from Middle French captieux (15c.) or directly from Latin captiosus "fallacious," from captionem (nominative captio) "a deceiving, fallacious argument," literally "a taking (in)," from captus, past participle of capere "to take, catch" (see capable). Related: Captiously; captiousness.