fractious

adjective

frac·​tious ˈfrak-shəs 

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

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

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

Rhymes for fractious

• factious

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