contentious
[kuhn-ten-shuhs]
adjective
tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome: a contentious crew.
causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy: contentious issues.
Law. pertaining to causes between contending or opposing parties.
RELATED CONTENT
Why is it called “rock n’ roll?” What does the “roll” mean?Is “Rocket ‘88” by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats the very first rock and roll record? The question has inspired debate among musicologists for years. Another equally contentious question: Where does the term rock and roll come from? Rock is derived from the Old English roccain, related to the Old Nordic rykkja meaning, “to pull, tear, move.” The earliest recorded use of the term in literature …
Language debate sparks fistfight in the Ukrainian ParliamentIn 1991, after 69 years as a Soviet Republic, Ukraine became an independent state. Today Ukraine’s only national language is Ukrainian, even though many citizens still speak Russian. In the Ukrainian Parliament last week the President Viktor Yanukovych’s party proposed a new law to make Russian the second official language in the eastern regions of Ukraine (where much of the population is Russian-speaking). (The pink …
RELATED WORDS
testy, antagonistic, combative, argumentative, belligerent, disagreeable, factious, perverse, petulant, querulous
Nearby words
- content word,
- content-addressable storage,
- contented,
- contentedly,
- contention,
- contentiously,
- contentive,
- contently,
- contentment,
- contents
Origin of contentious
1400–50; late Middle English contenciose < Latin contentiōsus, equivalent to contenti(ō) contention + -ōsus -ous
SYNONYMS FOR contentious
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for contentious
contentious
adjective
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
contentious
c.1500, from Middle French contentieux, from Latin contentiosus "obstinate, quarrelsome," from contentionem (see contend). Related: Contentiously; contentiousness.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper