fractious
US/ˈfɹæk.ʃəs/
fractious adjective: given to troublemaking.
Adjective
fractious (comparative more fractious, superlative most fractious)
- Given to troublemaking.
- Now when the fractious little Beau Napperty heard that Bull had sent over his tenantry to commit trespass upon his marshes, he fell into one of the greatest passions ever known, and swore that Parson Fred should rue the hour he came over into his pastures.1835 James Kirke Paulding: The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan
- Synonyms:
- unruly
- Antonyms:
- unfractious
- Irritable; argumentative; quarrelsome.
- Fractious boys should be taught to govern their own tempers before they have the full control of oxen; and fractious men should remember that he who controls his own spirit is mightier than many who govern whole cities.1841 Western Farmer and Gardener, Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural Economy. Ed. Thomas Affleck. vol. II. Oct. 1840 to Sept. 1841.
- […] to him, in his present fractious mood, she dared whisper no observations, nor ask of him any information.1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IX, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 236
- Antonyms:
- unfractious
fractious meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
fractious in Tamil
- அடங்காத, முரண்டான, கோபமான, வெடுவெடுப்பான, எரிச்சலூட்டும், பிரச்சனையை உருவாக்கும்
fractious in Bengali
- অল্পতেই রেগে যায় এমন, খিটখিটে, ঝগড়াটে
fractious in Malayalam
- irascible, grumpy, bad-tempered
- കലഹകാരിയായ, വഴക്കാളിയായ, കലഹപ്രിയമായ, കലഹശീലമായ, വാമശീലമായ, വഴക്കുണ്ടാക്കുന്ന
- unruly, way-ward, uncontrollable
- കലഹശീലമായ, വെറിപിടിച്ച, വാമശീലമായ, അനുസരണകെട്ട, ചൊൽപ്പടികേൾക്കാത്ത, അവിധേയമായ
fractious in Kannada
- ಅಂಕೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ಹತೋಟಿಗೆ ಮೀರಿದ, ಸಿಡುಕಿನ, ಕೋಪಗೊಂಡ
Examples of fractious in a sentence
- Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in The New York Times, archived from the...
- Flair and invention were very much at a premium, suffocated by the relentless pace and often fractious nature of proceedings.2014 November 14, Stephen Halliday, “Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero”, in The Scotsman, archived from the original on 06...
- Musk waded directly into a fractious debate over the right way for corporations to bring workers back to the office during the coronavirus pandemic.2022 June 1, Ryan Mac, “Elon Musk to Workers: Spend 40 Hours in the Office, or Else”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the...
- After a fractious party conference and dire opinion polls for the Tories, the prime minister attempted to speak directly to the public, saying: “I want what you want.”2022 October 5, Rowena Mason, “Liz Truss promises ‘growth, growth and growth’ in protest-hit speech”, in The Guardian, archived from the...
Synonyms of fractious
Antonyms
Forms of fractious
| comparative | more fractious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most fractious |
Origin of fractious
From fraction (“discord”) (now obsolete) + -ous.
Words formed from fractious
Words that rhyme with fractious
Questions about fractious
- What does fractious mean?
- Fractious means given to troublemaking.
- What is fractious in Tamil?
- Fractious in Tamil is அடங்காத, முரண்டான, கோபமான. See Fractious meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use fractious in a sentence?
- Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.
- What part of speech is fractious?
- Fractious is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce fractious?
- Fractious is pronounced /ˈfɹæk.ʃəs/ (US).
Words near fractious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fractious (page history and authors); fractious (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fractious (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fractious (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); fractious (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-fractious.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fractious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fractious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.