Contentious

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contentious \Con*ten"tious\, a. [L. contentiosus: cf. F.
     contentieux.]
     1. Fond of contention; given to angry debate; provoking
        dispute or contention; quarrelsome.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              Despotic and contentious temper.      --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Relating to contention or strife; involving or
        characterized by contention. --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              More cheerful, though not less contentious, regions.
                                                    --Brougham.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law) Contested; litigated; litigious; having power to
        decide controversy.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Contentious jurisdiction} (Eng. Eccl. Law), jurisdiction
        over matters in controversy between parties, in
        contradistinction to {voluntary jurisdiction}, or that
        exercised upon matters not opposed or controverted.
  
     Syn: Quarrelsome; pugnacious; dissentious; wrangling;
          litigious; perverse; peevish. -- {Con*ten"tious*ly},
          adv. -- {Con*ten"tious*ness}, n.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  contentious
       adj 1: inclined or showing an inclination to dispute or disagree,
              even to engage in law suits; "a style described as
              abrasive and contentious"; "a disputatious lawyer"; "a
              litigious and acrimonious spirit" [syn: {disputatious},
               {disputative}, {litigious}]
       2: involving or likely to cause controversy; "a central and
          contentious element of the book"- Tim W.Ferfuson
       3: having or showing a ready disposition to fight; "bellicose
          young officers"; "a combative impulse"; "a contentious
          nature" [syn: {battleful}, {bellicose}, {combative}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  67 Moby Thesaurus words for "contentious":
     aggravating, aggravative, aggressive, annoying, antagonistic,
     argumental, argumentative, battling, bellicose, belligerent,
     bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, cat-and-dog, cat-and-doggish,
     chauvinist, chauvinistic, combative, controversial, dialectic,
     disputatious, enemy, eristic, exasperating, exasperative,
     ferocious, fierce, fighting, full of fight, hawkish, hostile,
     ill-humored, inimical, irritating, jingo, jingoish, jingoist,
     jingoistic, litigious, logomachic, martial, militant, militaristic,
     military, offensive, pilpulistic, polemic, pro and con,
     provocative, pugnacious, quarrelsome, saber-rattling, sanguinary,
     sanguineous, savage, scrappy, soldierlike, soldierly,
     trigger-happy, truculent, unfriendly, unpacific, unpeaceable,
     unpeaceful, warlike, warmongering, warring