Synonyms of quarrelsome

quarrelsome

adjective

ˈkwȯr(-ə)l-səm 

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

• aggressive
• militant
• hostile
• contentious
• irritable
• belligerent
• combative
• warlike
• pugnacious
• assaultive
• confrontational
• bellicose
• feisty
• ugly
• truculent
• disputatious
• argumentative
• acidic
• fierce
• agonistic
• savage
• vicious
• scrappy
• rude
• chippy
• discordant
• gladiatorial
• antagonistic
• on the warpath
• brawly
• irascible
• peevish
• fretful
• fighting
• disagreeable
• querulous
• fractious
• warring
• hot-tempered
• ornery
• petulant
• snappish
• testy
• cross
• choleric
• dyspeptic
• pettish
• grouchy
• surly
• bilious
• grumpy
• ill-tempered
• waspish
• crabby
• bristly
• ill-natured
• cranky
• touchy
• stroppy
• battling
• huffy
• ill-humored
• prickly
• bearish
• snappy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• peaceable
• peaceful
• nonaggressive
• pacific
• amiable
• unwarlike
• pleasant
• friendly
• cordial
• conciliatory
• benevolent
• good-natured
• sociable
• genial
• nonbelligerent
• easygoing
• amicable
• gracious
• affable
• complaisant
• uncontentious
• kindhearted
• quiet
• calm
• ingratiating
• obliging
• uncombative
• unbelligerent
• good-tempered
• mild
• serene
• gentle
• tranquil
• antimilitarist
• benign
• relaxed
• anti-imperialist
• kindly

2

as in contentious

given to arguing

you're so quarrelsome: you can never do anything without a fuss

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

Synonym Chooser

How is the word quarrelsome distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of quarrelsome are bellicose, belligerent, contentious, and pugnacious. While all these words mean "having an aggressive or fighting attitude," quarrelsome stresses an ill-natured readiness to fight without good cause.

the heat made us all quarrelsome

When might bellicose be a better fit than quarrelsome?

The words bellicose and quarrelsome can be used in similar contexts, but bellicose suggests a disposition to fight.

a drunk in a bellicose mood

In what contexts can belligerent take the place of quarrelsome?

Although the words belligerent and quarrelsome have much in common, belligerent often implies being actually at war or engaged in hostilities.

belligerent nations

When is it sensible to use contentious instead of quarrelsome?

While the synonyms contentious and quarrelsome are close in meaning, contentious implies perverse and irritating fondness for arguing and quarreling.

wearied by his contentious disposition

When can pugnacious be used instead of quarrelsome?

In some situations, the words pugnacious and quarrelsome are roughly equivalent. However, pugnacious suggests a disposition that takes pleasure in personal combat.

a pugnacious gangster

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of quarrelsome

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

Wolf-dogs are quarrelsome, but not a great deal more so than normal sled dogs. —Ted Updike, Outdoor Life, 22 May 2025

In the clip, 50 leans into his quarrelsome nature by, quite literally, delivering the beef while pulling a variety of items out of his DoorDash delivery bag, some of which seem meant to troll his No. 1 enemy at the moment, currently incarcerated Bad Boy Records founder Diddy. —Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019