fractious

adjective

frac·​tious ˈfrak-shəs How to pronounce fractious (audio)
1
: tending to be troublesome : unruly
a fractious crowd
2
: quarrelsome, irritable
a fractious political campaign
fractiously adverb
fractiousness noun

Did you know?

The Latin verb frangere means "to break or shatter" and is related to a few common words, which is evident in their meanings. Dishes that are fragile break easily. A person whose health is easily broken might be described as frail. A fraction is one of the many pieces into which a whole can be broken. But fraction also once meant "disharmony" or "discord"—that is, a "rupture in relations." From this noun sense came the adjective fractious.

Examples of fractious in a Sentence

The fractious crowd grew violent.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The country has taken issue with Norway’s critical approach towards it, giving tomorrow’s meeting between their sides a fractious backdrop. Phil Hay, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025 Lecornu added that whoever joined his government would have to renounce their personal ambitions to succeed Macron in 2027, a contest that has injected instability into France‘s weak minority governments and fractious legislature. Reuters, NBC news, 10 Oct. 2025 Encounters with protest—as participants, observers, or opponents of it—are useful parts of learning for students who will eventually leave their campuses for a fractious, rough-and-tumble political world. Christopher L. Eisgruber, Time, 9 Oct. 2025 Many who took the survey saw Goldberg-Polin as too moral to get involved in the rough and tumble world of Israel’s fractious political scene. Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 4 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fractious

Word History

Etymology

fract(ion) (in sense "rupture, discord, breach of the peace") + -ious (after captious, factious)

First Known Use

1714, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of fractious was in 1714

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Cite this Entry

“Fractious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fractious. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.

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