rebarbative
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of rebarbative
First recorded in 1890–95; from French, feminine of rébarbatif “disagreeable, repugnant,” from Middle French rebarber “to oppose, confront,” literally “to go beard to beard, head to head,” equivalent to ré- re- + barbe “beard,” from Latin barba “beard” ( cf. beard ( def. )) + -atif -ative
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.
Sparkling and rebarbative, abrasive and relentlessly performative, it is, in other words, classic Will Self.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Why not place a bet on Tala Madani, whose desultory drawing and wildly rebarbative conceits might have the impact at the Met that artists like Matisse once had in Paris?
From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2023
“Indeed, many of the apparently rebarbative aspects of Sontag’s personality are clarified in light of the alcoholic family system, as it was later understood,” Moser writes, and he goes on:
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 16, 2019
Kazin, whom Schwartz called “a serious menace to criticism,” was venomous, rebarbative and bitter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2017
Nobody as rebarbative as Cicero, in a state as turbulent as Rome during the first century bc, could expect not to run into trouble sooner or later.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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.
