Synonyms of fractious

fractious

adjective

1

as in contentious

given to disagreement or irritation

At the end of what was a fractious campaign, the two former rivals were surprisingly able to settle some of their differences and work together.

Related Words

• contentious
• controversial
• feisty
• quarrelsome
• surly
• combative
• belligerent
• disputatious
• pugnacious
• polemical
• warlike
• bellicose
• truculent
• restive
• militant
• aggressive
• scrappy
• argumentative
• ornery
• wayward
• stubborn
• balky
• intractable
• recalcitrant
• gladiatorial
• uncooperative
• fighting
• insubordinate
• disobedient
• obstinate
• irritable
• fretful
• cantankerous
• refractory
• battling
• irascible
• unreasonable
• perverse
• contrary
• disagreeable
• petulant
• testy
• peevish
• headstrong
• warring
• obdurate
• uncompromising
• querulous
• resistant
• mulish
• splenetic
• unbending
• snappish
• dyspeptic
• captious
• bilious
• grouchy
• grumpy
• touchy
• waspish
• unyielding
• cross
• choleric
• hardheaded
• ill-tempered
• crabby
• acidic
• cranky
• pigheaded
• pettish
• froward
• huffy
• self-willed
• willful
• ill-humored
• bearish
• ill-natured
• self-opinionated
• rude
• snappy

Dissimilar Words

• amiable
• pleasant
• friendly
• cordial
• amicable
• benevolent
• good-natured
• genial
• easygoing
• sociable
• affable
• gracious
• peaceful
• peaceable
• cooperative
• ingratiating
• pacific
• agreeable
• conciliatory
• good-tempered
• amenable
• compliant
• acquiescent
• complying
• complaisant
• docile
• obedient
• tractable
• submissive
• obliging

2

as in wild

difficult to manage or control

Security guards were overwhelmed by the fractious crowd at the concert.

Related Words

• wild
• defiant
• rebellious
• restive
• willful
• uncontrollable
• unreasonable
• unmanageable
• stubborn
• rebel
• resistant
• unruly
• intractable
• obstreperous
• recalcitrant
• ungovernable
• wayward
• noncooperative
• balky
• bad
• insubordinate
• uncooperative
• disobedient
• mischievous
• refractory
• obstinate
• contumacious
• headstrong
• obdurate
• uncompromising
• contrary
• unbending
• mulish
• disorderly
• unyielding
• untoward
• hardheaded
• froward
• recusant
• pigheaded
• incompliant
• naughty
• errant
• undisciplined
• self-willed
• self-opinionated
• misbehaving
• monkeyish
• monkeying

Dissimilar Words

• cooperative
• amiable
• agreeable
• acquiescent
• deferential
• behaved
• yielding
• respectful
• polite
• disciplined
• well-bred
• dutiful
• obliging
• courteous
• servile
• proper
• obsequious
• subservient
• orderly
• slavish
• decorous
• manageable
• docile
• mannerly
• controllable
• tractable
• obedient
• amenable
• compliant
• submissive
• conformable
• governable
• trainable
• kowtowing
• biddable
• ruly

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of fractious

Hochul has mended her once-fractious relationship with progressives in NYC and statewide, a key of the Democratic coalition, and has forged a close partnership with Mayor Mamdani after years of tension with ex-Mayor Eric Adams. — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 14 Oct. 2026

Like so much in our fractious public discourse these days, the Inland Empire’s mysterious wild donkey herds are sparking fierce, sometimes scary debate. — Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026

The audience, by then, once united in laughing at its easier targets of parody, had become more fractious and ill-at-ease. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 Oct. 2026

Still, this urgent, moving film is very much a work of its fractious era, when the time taken to see your opponent’s side might come at the expense of someone more worthy of grace. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 1 Sep. 2026

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