cantankerous
adjective

- difficult or irritating to deal with

- arguing and complaining a lot

Merriam-Webster / The Cambridge Dictionary

This wonderful-sounding word can also be used to describe animals, cars, computers, substances, or anything else that can be difficult to handle.

It is believed by some that we become more cantankerous as we get older !

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WORD ORIGIN

“Cantankerous” (from the 1770s) is a strange-looking word that some etymologists believe may be a blend of “contentious” and “rancorous”, both of which have similar meanings. It may be related to rancorous (bitter resentment), from the Latin root rancēre.

Others suggest that it stems from conteke which means “contention” or “dissension” with a contekour being “one who causes conflict”.

After U.S. President Barack Obama complained about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia being grumpy, Scalia shot back with a smile: “I’m not cantankerous. I just express myself vividly.”

While cantankerousness is generally seen as a negative trait, some people find it amusing or endearing. Cantankerous characters have appeared in literature, film, and television, often as comic relief or as foils to more pleasant characters.

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SYNONYMS

bad tempered, belligerent, CANTANKEROUS, contentious, contrary, crabby, cranky, critical, cross, crotchety, crusty, curmudgeonly, disagreeable, dour, fractious, grouchy, gruff, grumpy, huffy, ill-humoured, ill-natured, irascible, irritable, ornery, peevish, pugnacious, quarrelsome, snappish, snarly, surly, testy, tetchy, touchy

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“My CANTANKEROUS printer always jams when I’m in a hurry to print something important—it really seems to have a mind of its own!”

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