quarrelsome
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of quarrelsome
Explanation
When you are quick to pick a fight or disagree, you are quarrelsome. Toddlers are often quarrelsome. So are couples, at least with each other. If you know that quarrel means to argue or fight, then this is an easy word to figure out. People who are quarrelsome seem to constantly get in fights. Quarrelsome people are often moody or sensitive: any little thing can get them upset. Other people usually don't like to work with or be around quarrelsome folks. However, any of us can get quarrelsome at times, especially when we're under stress or have an empty stomach.
Vocabulary lists containing quarrelsome
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 4
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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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.
The move is risky, and it will be quarrelsome — especially for those who still see Zendaya as an idyllic Disney star, despite her respectable penchant for complicated characters.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026
Don't get me wrong, the tone of these discussions has always been quarrelsome and combative; more Lemme than Liszt.
From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026
Much of the reason the Ripa-Consuelos team has been successful on TV is that they are enthusiastic, quarrelsome in an amusing way, but also intense.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 24, 2025
Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to lay out how he and his quarrelsome governing coalition aim to fix things in a speech to parliament Tuesday.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 27, 2023
A battle raged between two titans: the professor Booker T. Washington and the brilliant, mercurial, and quarrelsome W. E. B. Du Bois.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
