ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsFfractious
ISEE/SSAThard
fractious
Meaning: irritable, quarrelsome, or difficult to control
fractious in a sentence
How fractious is used in real sentences:
The fractious committee argued over every sentence.
The chair struggled to guide the fractious debate back to the agenda.
“Pressure increases when a fractious defendant repeatedly interrupts counsel and refuses instructions.”
— from the passage Between Speech and Judgment
“By the third evening of rehearsal, Maestro Varen knew the orchestra had become fractious; players disputed bowings, tempos, and even chair placements.”
— from the passage The Unfinished Finale
“In practice, professional expediters established a quiet hegemony over the line, while missed appointments and unexplained delays made the waiting crowd fractious.”
— from the passage Waiting by Design
Synonyms for fractious
Other words for fractious — irritable, quarrelsome and peevish — carry the same meaning.
Antonyms of fractious
Words that mean the opposite of fractious:
Where it comes from
From Latin frangere, meaning 'to break.'
Word parts
- fract/frag — break
fractious: fract (break) + -ious (inclined to)
Memory hook
FRACTIOUS shares a root with fracture: a fractious group breaks into arguments.