as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed to change
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of cantankerous
Hackman's criminal mastermind was wily, vain, cantankerous, and a bit too sure of himself.
—
David Morgan, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2025
The membership must have been particularly cantankerous this year, since only four players – Gates, Eric Allen, Jared Allen and Sterling Sharpe – were selected.
—Jim Alexander, Orange County Register, 7 Feb. 2025
What to Know Coughenour, 83, has a reputation for being a tough and cantankerous judge.
—Barbara A. Perry, Newsweek, 27 Jan. 2025
Sunrise on the Reaping will follow a young Haymitch, who later becomes the cantankerous mentor of District 12’s famous tributes.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 18 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cantankerous
David Morgan, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2025
The membership must have been particularly cantankerous this year, since only four players – Gates, Eric Allen, Jared Allen and Sterling Sharpe – were selected.
—Jim Alexander, Orange County Register, 7 Feb. 2025
What to Know Coughenour, 83, has a reputation for being a tough and cantankerous judge.
—Barbara A. Perry, Newsweek, 27 Jan. 2025
Sunrise on the Reaping will follow a young Haymitch, who later becomes the cantankerous mentor of District 12’s famous tributes.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 18 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cantankerous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cantankerous
Adjective
-
And even in what was a stilted match played in an increasingly irritable atmosphere, Rogers and Tielemans delivered with an assist each.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
14 Apr. 2025
-
This stretch can worsen pain in people with back pain, very tight hamstrings, or irritable nerves.—
Aubrey Bailey, PT, DPT, CHT,
Verywell Health,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
An angry man, the same one from earlier, bellows at Jackson as he is muscled off the ball, and there are more expletives as Chelsea pass it backwards after getting close to Everton’s penalty area.—
Simon Johnson,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
-
In 2010, under pressure over the healthcare overhaul that became known as Obamacare, a number of House Democrats skipped public events after facing angry town halls the previous summer.—
Steve Peoples and Thomas Beaumont,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Image Our collective longing to connect with animals is evident in the viral popularity of animal celebrities on social media — who can resist Pesto the chubby baby king penguin, Hua Hua the panda or Moo Deng, the ornery baby pygmy hippo?—
Alexandra Alter,
New York Times,
23 Mar. 2025
-
Fitzgerald, 75, his daughter Heather Valdez, 53, and their team of family members, co-workers and an ornery parrot named Cisco have kept this wacky thrift-consignment-retail store afloat.—
Amanda Rosa,
Miami Herald,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
An example: Sip and Polina have been thrown into Ian Mayfair’s home prison (a must for every supernatural villain property), complete with iron bars and a surly watchman, but this turns out to be an extremely minor setback.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
2 Mar. 2025
-
The Sum of a Career in Spaceflight Schirra had announced his plans to retire from NASA before the Apollo 7 flight, and a successful (if surly) mission, topped off with an Emmy Award and a Deep Draft Command certificate, wasn’t a bad way to wrap up a nine-year career at the agency.—
Kiona N. Smith,
Forbes,
12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Befriending Cressida Cowper is a respectable exercise in recognizing biases, but the pair’s interactions are as disagreeable as those bangs.—
Zoe Haylock,
Vulture,
16 May 2024
-
If Alex has a bit more credibility, not being as intractable in her positions, both have a tendency to come off as disagreeable in their incessant bickering and self-righteousness.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
And while there is enough splenetic wit and manic detail to generate obsessive fandom (entire sections of Web sites are dedicated to deciphering just what Kenny is mumbling), subjects like alien abduction, genetic engineering, and Kathie Lee are hardly original targets for satire.—
Chris Norris,
SPIN,
13 Aug. 2022
-
Meanwhile, the commentator and controversialist Piers Morgan, an obsessively close observer and relentless critic of Meghan, inevitably waded in with his usual splenetic views.—
Sarah Lyall,
New York Times,
17 Sep. 2022
Adjective
-
In the Nineties, the report became a staple in the bilious feedstock of right-wing militias, part of a slurry of propaganda that turned legitimate grievances into the conviction that FEMA agents in unmarked black helicopters were soon to enact a new world order.—
Dan Piepenbring,
Harper's Magazine,
19 Feb. 2025
-
The death chamber is nine feet by twelve feet, painted a bilious turquoise.—
Lawrence Wright,
The New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cantankerous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cantankerous. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share