fractious
Americanadjective
-
irritable
-
unruly
Usage
Fractious is sometimes wrongly used where factious is meant: this factious (not fractious ) dispute has split the party still further
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fractious
First recorded in 1715–25; fracti(on) + -ous
Explanation
If you're prone to picking fights, making snarky comments, and being frustratingly stubborn, you're fractious. And odds are you're not invited to too many parties. Someone who is fractious is cranky, rebellious and inclined to cause problems. Tempers and children are commonly described as such. In To Kill A Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses the word to describe the trouble-making Calpurnia: "She had always been too hard on me, she had at last seen the error of her fractious ways, she was sorry and too stubborn to say so."
Vocabulary lists containing fractious
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Polling from the fractious summer of 2024 for the research group More In Common suggested that only 18% of voters overall believed the police treat ethnic minorities more favourably than white people.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
The tournament, which will take place across a sprawling 16 host cities and three countries, comes after a period of fractious relations between its hosts: the US, Canada and Mexico.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
For now, AI spending and a fractious Fed likely aren’t enough to halt the rally, but don’t discount a clash between the two in future.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
Through sheer force of will, and despite several attempts on his life, President de Gaulle held his fractious country together and established an independent foreign policy, much to the annoyance of the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
The more his back ached and his muscle dissolved into fat and the fat melted off his bones, the more fractious he became with Janie.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
