Thesaurus
contentious
Synonyms and Antonyms of contentious
1
feeling or displaying eagerness to fight
antagonistic, fierce, hostile, hot-tempered
acidic, bearish, bilious, bristly, choleric, crabby, cranky, cross, disagreeable, dyspeptic, fractious, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, huffy, ill-humored, ill-natured, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, ornery, peevish, pettish, petulant, prickly, querulous, rude, snappish, snappy, stroppy [British], surly, testy, touchy, ugly, waspish
on the warpath
2
given to arguing
argumentative, controversial, disputatious, polemical (also polemic), quarrelsome, scrappy
aggressive, bellicose, belligerent, combative, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, truculent, warlike
balky, contrary, ornery, perverse, restive, wayward
disobedient, froward, insubordinate, intractable, recalcitrant, refractory
hardheaded, headstrong, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, pigheaded, resistant, self-opinionated, self-willed, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, uncooperative, unreasonable, unyielding, willful (or wilful)
acidic, bearish, bilious, cantankerous, captious, choleric, crabby, cranky, cross, disagreeable, dyspeptic, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, huffy, ill-humored, ill-natured, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, peevish, pettish, petulant, querulous, rude, snappish, snappy, splenetic, testy, touchy, waspish
3
relating to or causing the expression of opposing opinions
argumentative, controversial, disputatious, hot-button, polemical (also polemic)
delicate, difficult, knotty, problematic (also problematical), spiny, thorny, ticklish, touchy, tough
Synonym Discussion of contentious
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- belligerent nations
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- a drunk in a bellicose mood
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- a pugnacious gangster
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- the heat made us all quarrelsome
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- wearied by his contentious disposition
Learn More about contentious
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Dictionary: Definition of contentious Spanish Central: Translation of contentious Nglish: Translation of contentious for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of contentious for Arabic speakers
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