fractious

[frak-shuhs]

adjective

1. refractory or unruly.

   a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness.

   Synonyms: difficult, stubborn

2. readily angered; peevish; irritable; quarrelsome.

   an incorrigibly fractious young man.

   Synonyms: touchy, waspish, pettish, snappish, petulant, captious, testy

fractious

/ ˈfrækʃəs /

adjective

1. irritable

2. 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

• fractiously adverb
• fractiousness noun
• unfractious adjective
• unfractiously adverb
• unfractiousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fractious¹

First recorded in 1715–25; fracti(on) + -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of fractious¹

C18: from (obsolete) fraction discord + _-ous

Example Sentences

But while the mood is a little less fractious than last week, uncertainty continues to weigh on riskier assets, with bitcoin hovering around $87,000.

Read more on Barron's

“It is a convenient label for a loose and sometimes fractious group of generals and senior government officials that thrives amidst Venezuela’s endemic corruption,” Gunson said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Governing will require crafting a multiparty coalition from a fractious political landscape, in which around 15 parties won seats and the far-right remains a powerful force despite Wilders’s losses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War cooled, Cheney was charged with overseeing a Pentagon that was more fractious than usual.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The relationship at one point grew so fractious that OpenAI considered going to antitrust regulators to break out of the contract, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• irritable 
• recalcitrant 
• restive 
• testy 
• unmanageable 
• unruly