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fractious definition

frac·tious (frak′s̸həs)

adjective

  1. hard to manage; unruly; rebellious; refractory
  2. peevish; irritable; cross

Etymology: prob. < fraction (in obs. sense “discord”) + -ous

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

fractious Synonyms

fractious

modif.

  1. Irritable

    peevish, perverse, touchy, cross; see irritable.

  2. Hard to manage

    unruly, refractory, troublesome; see contrary 4, rebellious 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

fractious Usage Examples

Preposition: in

  • half: The Chamber gets fractious in the second half of the meeting, and I for one would be more content with some real food.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • get: Differences Feel that things are getting a bit fractious?

Modifies a noun

  • debate: After a fractious debate a decision was taken for a second march to Symonds office.

Modifying Another Word

  • increasingly: Second half goal from Tony & Harvey finished off an increasingly fractious game, the students evidently not being used to losing.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: For some unaccountable reason they had suddenly decided to become fractious.
fractious usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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MLA Style

"fractious." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/fractious>

APA Style

fractious. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/fractious

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