1
as in aggressive
feeling or displaying eagerness to fight
a quarrelsome student who was always being sent to the principal's office for starting fights in the halls
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in contentious
given to arguing
you're so quarrelsome: you can never do anything without a fuss
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of quarrelsome
The only thing that puts wind in The Disappear’s heavy sails is the real people attempting to give some sense of depth, breadth, and humor to the near-caricatures on stage — especially the play’s quarrelsome leads.
—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
19 Jan. 2026
And what’s most important — indeed the principal reason for protecting the existence of a noisy, quarrelsome, factious, muckraking free press in our republic — is accountability.
—
Chris Stirewalt,
The Hill,
23 Dec. 2025
All arms come from coal and steel and integrated industries would stop Europe’s most quarrelsome countries waging war on one another.
—
Sara Stridsberg
september 15,
Literary Hub,
15 Sep. 2025
He’s installed a pair of Brits, Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, as the quarrelsome couple, and there are no two finer actors to take on the tangle of insults penned by Tony McNamara, who wrote the screenplay.
—
Katie Walsh,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for quarrelsome
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
19 Jan. 2026
And what’s most important — indeed the principal reason for protecting the existence of a noisy, quarrelsome, factious, muckraking free press in our republic — is accountability.
—
Chris Stirewalt,
The Hill,
23 Dec. 2025
All arms come from coal and steel and integrated industries would stop Europe’s most quarrelsome countries waging war on one another.
—
Sara Stridsberg
september 15,
Literary Hub,
15 Sep. 2025
He’s installed a pair of Brits, Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, as the quarrelsome couple, and there are no two finer actors to take on the tangle of insults penned by Tony McNamara, who wrote the screenplay.
—
Katie Walsh,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for quarrelsome
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quarrelsome
Adjective
-
Grey-zone tactics refer to a range of aggressive tactics that vary from navy ship patrols to drone flights, but fall short of direct combat.
-
That will be decided in the coming hours, as the Heat remains in aggressive pursuit of a trade for Antetokounmpo.
Adjective
-
This is not so different from the Founders’ vision of democracy, in which a federal system with independent, coequal branches of government forces collisions of competing interests that can get contentious, even chaotic, before compromises are forged.
-
But with the Turnberry Agreement finally finding its footing, a reopening of wounds and a reignition of a contentious trade battle has likely held little appeal for the EU.
Adjective
-
Fiber-optic, first-person view (FPV) drones have become a key weapon in the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s war against Israel in recent months – bypassing Israel’s sophisticated defense systems by duplicating an asymmetric warfare tactic that first emerged in the Russia-Ukraine war.
-
Children of the 1960s may recall that even within the militant activist group, Students for Democratic Society (SDS), animus was frequently directed not at the establishment but at fellow antiwar advocates.
Adjective
-
In a controversial move, the Department of Education last year decided that certain healthcare studies – such as nursing, physician assistants and physical therapy – were not considered professional programs.
-
One of the most controversial things to happen in sports over the last five to seven years or so is the introduction of jersey ads.
Adjective
-
The complaint alleges that school officials at Southern Hills Middle School failed to stop two years of antisemitic harassment against an eighth grader even after investigations concluded the student faced a hostile environment.
-
Create an internal incident map and begin tagging hostile actions according to the DISARM taxonomy.
Adjective
-
In her account, Richmond indeed emerges as its progenitor—through his theorizing, his behind-the-scenes parliamentary and polemical maneuvering, and his patronage of Thomas Paine.
-
The slapstick titles—Crackned Horsez, To of Them, Ape Island, all 1972—further stymied any straightforwardly polemical takeaway.
Adjective
-
The symptoms are so delayed that people often blame them on food poisoning, irritable-bowel syndrome, gluten intolerance.
-
Cancer could be affectionate and chatty one moment, and withdrawn and irritable the next, with little to no explanation.
Adjective
-
The weather service’s forecast discussion for Kansas City said the stubborn heat could last through the Fourth of July.
-
Against all odds, the stubborn housing market has become a hotspot for young talent.
Cite this Entry
“Quarrelsome.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quarrelsome. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
