cantankerosity
cantankerosity noun: the quality of being cantankerous.
Noun
cantankerosity (countable and uncountable, plural cantankerosities)
- The quality of being cantankerous.
- Sir, the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Keitt] made a speech, and if I may be allowed to coin a word, I will say it had more cantankerosity in it than any speech I ever heard on this floor.1856, Defence of Massachusetts. Speech of Hon. Anson Burlingame, of Massachusetts, in the United States House of Representatives, June 21, 1856., Cambridge, Mass.: Printed for private distribution...
- “This is a case for phlebotomy.” / “I’ll phlebotomize you!” retorted Vie, irascibly. / “Worse and worse Strong indications of internal cantankerosity, requiring an immediate application of Croton oil and ipecacuanha, infused in an oyster stew, to be superseded by a nicotine fumigation.1871 September, Hester Earle, ““With what Measure ye Mete.””, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume XXXIV, number 3 (whole 201), part third, chapter VII (Filling the Vacancy), page 222, column 1
- Synonyms:
- cantankerousness
- Someone or something that is cantankerous.
- His whole life is one prolonged cantankerosity.1880 December, “On Angularities and Cantankerousness”, in London Society. An Illustrated Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for the Hours of Relaxation., volume XXXVIII, number CCXXVIII...
- One writer refers to certain purists as “antieverythingarians”; another speaks of the “cantankerosities” of ill-natured people; while still another characterises mankind, truly enough, as “mammonolaters.”1888 October 20, Acus [pseudonym], “Points”, in The Dominion Illustrated: A Canadian Pictorial Weekly, volume I, number 16, Montreal, Que.; Toronto, Ont., page 243, column 2
Examples of cantankerosity in a sentence
- Samuel Weller’s legend, ate the three shillingsworth of muffins and blew his brains out. […] I humbly think that this is a case of mental cantankerosity.1880 December, “On Angularities and Cantankerousness”, in London Society. An Illustrated Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for the...
- It is a sad and astounding fact to relate, but even in literary life we meet with instances of cantankerosity.1881 January 15, Sacramento Daily Record-Union, volume XII, number 126, Sacramento, Calif., page [7], column 3:
- Hanson has a bad case of cantankerosity of the disposition, and the disease does not appear to yield to any of his ordinary methods of malpractice.1885 August 29, “Voices from the Interior”, in The Wasp, San Francisco, Calif., page 3, column 1:
- Of the whimsical manifestations of our national spirit countless anecdotes make mention in the boastfulness and general cantankerosity of the American tourist.1898 December, John S. Van Cleve, “Americanism in Musical Art”, in W. S. B. Mathews, editor, Music. A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Art...
Synonyms of cantankerosity
Forms of cantankerosity
| plural | cantankerosities |
|---|
Origin of cantankerosity
From cantanker(ous) + -osity.
Questions about cantankerosity
- What does cantankerosity mean?
- Cantankerosity means the quality of being cantankerous.
- How do you use cantankerosity in a sentence?
- Samuel Weller’s legend, ate the three shillingsworth of muffins and blew his brains out. […] I humbly think that this is a case of mental cantankerosity.
- What part of speech is cantankerosity?
- Cantankerosity is a noun.
- What is the plural of cantankerosity?
- The plural of cantankerosity is cantankerosities.
Words near cantankerosity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cantankerosity (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “cantankerosity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cantankerosity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.