Thesaurus
contentious
Synonyms and Antonyms of contentious
- the Tartars were a contentious people who terrorized much of Asia and eastern Europe during the Middle Ages
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
- a tiresomely contentious person who likes to argue for the sake of 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
- gun control is likely to be a contentious subject in any group discussion
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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