fractious
Americanadjective
-
irritable
-
unruly
Usage
Fractious is sometimes wrongly used where factious is meant: this factious (not fractious ) dispute has split the party still further
Other Word Forms
- fractiously adverb
- fractiousness noun
- unfractious adjective
- unfractiously adverb
- unfractiousness noun
Etymology
Origin of fractious
First recorded in 1715–25; fracti(on) + -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Bruce Meyer, the current executive director of the players association, puts the union’s fractious history with the owners at the center of his communications with players.
From Los Angeles Times
As a Shiite-majority nation, Iran has long held fractious and even hostile relationships with Sunni jihadist actors.
From Los Angeles Times
If it sounds polarised, ill-tempered and fractious, that is because it is.
From BBC
SEOUL—After a six-year hiatus, the first passenger trains connecting the capitals of China and North Korea resumed, a sign of warming ties between two countries that have a history of fractious relations.
It has had a fractious relationship with former prime minister Oli in the past.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
