contentious

1 feeling or displaying eagerness to fight the Tartars were a contentious people who terrorized much of Asia and eastern Europe during the Middle Ages Synonyms aggressive, agonistic, argumentative, assaultive, bellicose, brawly, chippy, combative, confrontational, belligerent, discordant, disputatious, feisty, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, scrappy, truculent, warlikeRelated Words 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; savage, vicious; battling, fighting, warringNear Antonyms anti-imperialist, antimilitarist, unwarlike; affable, amiable, amicable, benevolent, complaisant, conciliatory, cordial, easygoing, friendly, genial, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, ingratiating, kindhearted, obliging, pleasant, sociable; calm, quiet, relaxed, serene, tranquil; benign, gentle, kindly, mildAntonyms nonaggressive, nonbelligerent, pacific, peaceable, peaceful, unbelligerent, uncombative, uncontentious

2 given to arguing a tiresomely contentious person who likes to argue for the sake of arguing Synonyms argumentative, controversial, disputatious, polemical (also polemic), quarrelsome, scrappyRelated Words aggressive, bellicose, belligerent, combative, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, truculent, warlike; feisty, fractious, surly; 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; battling, fighting, warringNear Antonyms affable, amiable, amicable, benevolent, cordial, easygoing, friendly, genial, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, ingratiating, pleasant, sociable; acquiescent, agreeable, amenable, complaisant, compliant, complying, conciliatory, cooperative, obliging; docile, obedient, submissive, tractable; pacific, peaceable, peaceful

3 relating to or causing the expression of opposing opinions gun control is likely to be a contentious subject in any group discussion Synonyms argumentative, controversial, disputatious, hot-button, polemical (also polemic)Related Words delicate, difficult, knotty, problematic (also problematical), spiny, thorny, ticklish, touchy, toughNear Antonyms incontestable, incontrovertible, indisputable, indubitable, undeniable, unquestionable; irrefutable; uncontested, undisputedAntonyms noncontroversial, safe, uncontroversial