captiousness

noun

as in irritableness

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for captiousness
  1. irritability
  2. fractiousness
  3. crankiness
  4. acidity
  5. petulance
  6. grouchiness
  7. testiness
Noun
  • Kooij says women with ADHD whose symptoms increase during this stage may describe losing control over mood, irritability, sleep and focus.
    — Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 7 July 2026
  • Intense exercise on a sizzling day can lead to extreme fatigue, impaired performance, headache, irritability, nausea, dizziness, cramping and dehydration, all symptoms of exertional heat illness.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 July 2026
Definition of irritability
Noun
  • Household names such as Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner get their due, as well as others whose talent, determination, and, yes, fractiousness cement their place in the canon, including the otherworldly Grace Jones, the salsa queen Celia Cruz, and the triple threat Rita Moreno.
    — Emma Sarappo, The Atlantic, 12 June 2026
  • Although much of the country’s instability is rooted in its internal fractiousness and troubled transition from monarchy to republican democracy, many Nepalis believe India’s meddling has deepened their endemic political crisis.
    — MUHIB RAHMAN, Foreign Affairs, 12 Nov. 2025
Definition of fractiousness
Noun
  • How to handle it A lot of Virgo’s crankiness can be soothed with helping them get organized and practice self-compassion.
    — Maressa Brown, Parents, 18 June 2026
  • Bumping into someone wasn’t met with frustration, but with a grin and a comment about the Knicks, as if the entire city had agreed to give each other a pass from the stereotypical crankiness for one single night.
    — Antonio Ferme, Variety, 14 June 2026
Definition of crankiness
Noun
  • That has raised ocean acidity—a direct result of CO2 absorption—by 30%.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 9 July 2026
  • Research has shown that shifts in soil pH to higher acidity can reduce the growth of some microbes, undermining plant-microbe partnerships that have evolved over millions of years.
    — Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, The Conversation, 8 July 2026
Definition of acidity
Noun
  • Such petulance does not merit responsible high public office.
    — Letters to the Editor, Hartford Courant, 15 June 2026
  • In fact, Mount’s petulance was a way to distract the referee from Fernandes’s antics and take a late yellow card on his captain’s behalf.
    — Carl Anka, New York Times, 26 May 2026
Definition of petulance
Noun
  • Vince Gilligan moved to Apple and returned to his X-Files roots for the sci-fi horror dramatic comedy Pluribus, which used its ultra-mysterious and yet ultra-familiar genre trappings for a droll meditation on the eternal clash between collective joy and individual grouchiness.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 17 Nov. 2025
  • Emily is also struggling with Annabelle, who has inherited her mom’s attitude and the grouchiness of any adolescent forced to grow up with an Evolution Media camera crew in her home.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2025
Definition of grouchiness
Noun
  • The Warriors trailed by 11 points after a first quarter notable mostly for some late Golden State testiness.
    — Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Jan. 2026
  • Corbett said the testiness started in Florida and returned with the team to Charlotte.
    — Joseph Person, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2025
Definition of testiness
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.

Browse Nearby Words

captiously
captiousness
captivate
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Captiousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/captiousness. Accessed 12 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of fulcrum

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 10
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All