captious
- adjective
- /ˈkæpʃəs/
- Formal
:
quisquilloso
- It's disgraceful beyond words, a contemptuous and boorish display of asinine partisanship from a man who's already demonstrated a captious disregard for what he says about foreign policy overseas.
Examples
-
He often avoided conversations with her because she had a captious nature that left no room for agreement.
-
In 1973, increasing dissatisfaction with the captious cast of the secondary literature led a group of scholars from the Charles S. Peirce Society to call for a more comprehensive, critical edition of his work, chronologically arranged.
Academic text (1994) -
"I will try to make poor Willy's memory the cure for the defects that have sullied my character—all that is captious, eccentric, and wrong.
Fiction book (1996) -
Her captious remarks about the presentation made everyone feel uncomfortable.
-
The teacher was known for her captious attitude, often criticizing students for minor errors.
Synonyms
210
3.8
Tending to find faults in people or work
2
8.0
Too quick to find small faults and judge people or things
2
9.4
Often complaining in a whiny, unhappy way
1
6.7
Often complains and annoys others by telling them what to do
Paying too much attention to small, unimportant details
Always finds and criticizes small mistakes in others
Antonyms
How Critical
Surface Forms
Morphology
captious = capt + ious
The element 'capt-' is a non‑productive Latin combining form (not a standalone English word) and the sense 'tending to find fault' cannot be derived transparently from 'capt-' + '-ious' by an average B1 learner.
Etymology
The word captious comes from the Latin root capere 'to take' or 'to catch', the same root behind capture. Think of a person who 'catches' tiny faults and holds them up — they grab small mistakes, so captious means quick to find small faults and to complain.