cantankerous

adjective

can·​tan·​ker·​ous kan-ˈtaŋ-k(ə-)rəs 

kən-

1

a

: habitually angry or annoyed

… I have developed into a cantankerous old man who shouts at the television …

—Bryan Forbes

b

: suggestive or expressive of an irritable temperament

a cantankerous remark

a cantankerous memoir

2

: often difficult to deal with

a cantankerous mule

cantankerously adverb

cantankerousness noun

Did you know?

The Origin of Cantankerous Is Mysterious

A person described as cantankerous may find it more difficult than most to turn that frown upside down, while a cantankerous mule/jalopy/etc. is difficult to deal with—it may not turn in your desired direction. It’s been speculated that cantankerous is a product of the obsolete word contack, meaning “contention,” under the influence of a pair of “difficult” words still in use: rancorous and cankerous. Rancorous brings the anger and “bitter deep-seated ill will” (as rancor can be understood to mean), and cankerous brings the perhaps understandable foul mood: a cankerous person suffers from painful sores—that is, cankers.

Synonyms of cantankerous

• irritable
• angry
• ornery
• surly
• disagreeable
• dyspeptic
• splenetic
• bilious

Examples of cantankerous in a Sentence

Contemporaries often found him aloof, standoffish, and cantankerous and his mannerisms and diction inscrutable. —Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books, 22 Oct. 2009

There are those who contend the hockey maven is a cantankerous old coot—rife with unpopular opinions and quick to assert them —Rick Harrison, Newsday, 19 Sept. 2004

… it's something ultimately more memorable: a self-portrait of a coolly cantankerous woman, reformed but unrepentant. —David Gates, New York Times Book Review, 21 Nov. 1999

In his last years, Harriman was the kind of cantankerous old man who once berated a financial planner by threatening to make him sit in the corner and wear a dunce cap. —Bryan Burrough, Vanity Fair, January 1995

a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed to change

Recent Examples on the Web

Things seem to be going well; Lord Walder accepts Robb’s apology with cantankerous humor, and offers the Starks his full hospitality for the duration of the wedding. — Ew Staff, Entertainment Weekly, 25 June 2026

The source of Soloviev’s angst lay in part in growing up with a father who was one of the more imposing, cantankerous figures in the history of New York real estate — a demographic with stiff competition. — Reeves Wiedeman, Curbed, 22 June 2026

For others, his cantankerous nature can be grating. — Elias Burke, New York Times, 21 June 2026

Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman Both DeVito and Perlman starred in Burrows sitcoms, DeVito as the cantankerous dispatcher Louie De Palma on Taxi and Pearlman the equally acerbic waitress Carla on Cheers. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 19 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

perhaps irregular from obsolete contack contention

First Known Use

circa 1736, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for cantankerous

• rancorous

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Kids Definition

cantankerous

adjective

can·​tan·​ker·​ous kan-ˈtaŋ-k(ə-)rəs 

kən-

: difficult or irritating to deal with

cantankerously adverb

cantankerousness noun