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

The event gave William and Kate a chance to show their star power after a week in which royal reporting was dominated by his younger brother’s fractious efforts to rebuild bridges with their father, according to Newsweek’s Jack Royston. — Martha Ross, Mercury News, 13 July 2026

There, the heads of NATO’s 32 member countries are gathered for the transatlantic alliance’s annual summit, amid a rather fractious atmosphere. — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 7 July 2026

Nissan’s annual general meeting, held in June after Fortune’s conversation with Espinosa, was particularly fractious. — Andrew Staples, Fortune, 3 July 2026

The legislative impasse before the Fourth of July weekend dealt another blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, who has struggled to rein in an increasingly fractious and razor-thin majority in the chamber. — Chad De Guzman, Time, 1 July 2026

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