cantankerous
9
8.6
- adjective
- /kænˈtæŋkərəs/
:
malhumorado
- In the movie, she's Tess Carlisle, a cantankerous, endearing, widowed first lady living in Ohio.
And I think really good founders are often pretty cantankerous.
- And I think really good founders are often pretty cantankerous.
- Some older people, they get their cantankerous old men.
- They get their the cantankerous old men sketching.
Examples
-
I'm a cantankerous old man, and I know it.
-
They're a cantankerous lot, the Ropers.
-
Such a cantankerous old man!
Academic text (2006) -
You never met anyone so cantankerous.
-
I guess I liked that cantankerous old devil.
Fiction book (1990) -
- Why didn't you tell me, you cantankerous old fool?
-
He's physically shattered, but the cantankerous old soul remains full of hope and conviction.
-
Levi Jordan, it turns out, had a reputation, perhaps not unlike Brown's, for being a bit cantankerous.
Academic text (2003) -
Catherine Cumming was a cantankerous, tight-fisted, sarcastic, and perverse woman; her sourly witty replies and asides are very Havisham-like.
Academic text (2010) -
My cantankerous neighbor often argues with the other residents about trivial issues.
Synonyms
31
6.1
Being ready to argue or fight
26
7.5
Being ready to argue or fight
22
8.5
Being bad-tempered and stubborn, often hard to deal with
7
9.9
Being hard to control and easily annoyed, often causing trouble
6
8.8
Often in a bad mood and easily annoyed by small things
5
8.6
Quick to become angry, often at small things
4
4.2
Quick to get angry or easily annoyed
4
8.8
Quick to argue or fight, often over small things
4
5.7
Easily annoyed and quick to get angry
3
7.8
Likely to argue or fight with other people
3
9.5
Often bad-tempered and easily annoyed, like a grumpy older person
3
3.5
Quick to get angry or annoyed
3
9.8
Quick to argue or fight and often angry
1
6.0
To become angry quickly and easily
1
9.6
Quick to become angry and often bad-tempered
1
9.1
Being easily annoyed and quick to feel offended
1
9.8
Easily annoyed and likely to argue or be unhelpful
1
9.9
Unwilling to cooperate and often challenging authority
1
9.9
Easily annoyed and quick to complain about small things
1
9.9
Quick to become angry or take offense
1
8.9
Being rude and getting upset by small things
Quick to speak in a rude or angry way that hurts others
Refuses to cooperate to cause trouble
Becoming easily annoyed and acting in a bad-tempered way
Showing a desire to argue or compete with others
Not willing to change your mind or behavior
Not willing to be patient with other people
Antonyms
How Bad-Tempered
Surface Forms
Morphology
cantankerous = cantanker + ous
Although the form looks like a stem 'cantanker' + suffix '-ous', the stem is not a productive or recognizable standalone English word, so the adjective's meaning cannot be reliably derived from the parts.
Etymology
The word cantankerous comes from an old English dialect form contankerous, which meant 'argumentative' or 'difficult'. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine someone who 'can't answer us' in an argument, grumpy and ready to argue, which is why cantankerous now means bad-tempered and hard to deal with.