as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed to change
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cantankerous
Paramount+ announced on April 2 that the Succession actor is returning to television, scoring his first major role since portraying the cantankerous patriarch Logan Roy.
—
Entertainment Weekly, 2 Apr. 2026
The journey is hampered by lack of money and other misfortunes, and it’s eventually interrupted by a gunshot, announcing the cantankerous presence of Tiga.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2026
High pop flys in left field during day games at the club’s spring ballpark have proven at times to be a cantankerous venture.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 22 Feb. 2026
Close leads the series as Maud Oldcastle, an older woman described as cantankerous and also a killer.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 18 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cantankerous
Entertainment Weekly, 2 Apr. 2026
The journey is hampered by lack of money and other misfortunes, and it’s eventually interrupted by a gunshot, announcing the cantankerous presence of Tiga.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2026
High pop flys in left field during day games at the club’s spring ballpark have proven at times to be a cantankerous venture.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 22 Feb. 2026
Close leads the series as Maud Oldcastle, an older woman described as cantankerous and also a killer.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 18 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cantankerous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cantankerous
Adjective
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Even Adam’s irritable female boss, Suzie (Sasheer Zamata), hides under a people-pleasing mask.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2026
-
That’s because the Moon is at odds with Mars today and everyone is irritable.—
Georgia Nicols,
Denver Post,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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Linda Hyde, a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards member since 2014, boarded her Southwest flight on May 21 at Miami International Airport humiliated and angry.—
Ella Moore
Updated May 29,
Miami Herald,
29 May 2026
-
Elder’s sculpture was sitting outside of Bee Hive KC over Memorial Day Weekend when a man who was visibly angry allegedly began vandalizing the honeybee, according to Elder.—
Jenna Ebbers,
Kansas City Star,
29 May 2026
Adjective
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Leach also would publicly call out his players and could get ornery when questioned about his team’s shortcomings.—
Ralph D. Russo,
New York Times,
2 June 2026
-
The rabbi is ornery, arrogant, sometimes cruel.—
Daniel Felsenthal,
Vulture,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Our protagonist, the surly and depressed writer Ohm, has been stuck on the ending to his book series featuring a conquistador lost in the desert with a young companion and a map trapped inside a bottle.—
Katie Walsh,
Twin Cities,
2 May 2026
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Our protagonist, the surly and depressed writer Ohm, has been stuck on the ending to his book series featuring a conquistador lost in the desert with a young companion and a map trapped inside a bottle.—
Katie Walsh,
Boston Herald,
1 May 2026
Adjective
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This is because there is a meaningful difference between disagreeing and being disagreeable.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
7 Apr. 2026
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Another bill would put regulations around data centers, although lawmakers in the final days stripped out some of the language that tech companies found disagreeable.—
Garrett Shanley,
Miami Herald,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Better is Danny Elfman’s spartan and fraught score, particularly the dyspeptic drums.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Jan. 2026
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But Kael sensed in her less dyspeptic moments that there was something special about Redford.—
Stephen Galloway,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Still, the internet nurtures these Hobbesian, splenetic views.—
Annie Lowrey,
The Atlantic,
24 May 2026
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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
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Sun shrinking and getting hotter; everything bilious, oxygenless, not great for living.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
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Minaj’s bilious flurry is possibly related to claims that she is owed between $100 to 200 million related to her stake in Tidal, the music streaming service launched and spearheaded by Jay-Z in 2015 and was sold to Jack Dorsey’s company Square for $297 million in 2021.—
Andrew Flanagan,
Variety,
15 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cantankerous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cantankerous. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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