VocabAhead

Fractious

  1. adjective

    unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be troublesome

    “rockets were much too fractious to be tested near thickly populated areas”

  2. adjective

    stubbornly resistant to authority or control

    “a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness”

    Similar: refractory, recalcitrant

  3. adjective

    easily irritated or annoyed

    “an incorrigibly fractious young man”

    Similar: cranky, irritable, nettlesome, peevish, peckish, pettish

Word family

fractiousness · fractiously

Words that mean the same

Angry · Stubborn

Appears on

SAT vocabulary list · GRE vocabulary list

Word parts

-ious