table talk
EnglishMerriam-Webster DictionaryEnglishMerriam-Webster Dictionarycantankerous
Definition
- : habitually angry or annoyed //… I have developed into a cantankerous old man who shouts at the television … — Bryan Forbes: suggestive or expressive of an irritable temperament //a cantankerous remark //a cantankerous memoir
- : often difficult to deal with //a cantankerous mule
Other Words
- cantankerously adverb
- cantankerousness noun
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
acid bearish bilious bloody-minded [chiefly British] disagreeable dyspeptic ill-humored ill-natured ill-tempered ornery splenetic surlyAntonyms
amiable good-humored good-natured good-temperedExamples
- //a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed to change
First Known Use
circa 1736, in the meaning defined at sense 1aHistory and Etymology
perhaps irregular from obsolete contack contentioncantankerous
Definition
- : habitually angry or annoyed //… I have developed into a cantankerous old man who shouts at the television … — Bryan Forbes: suggestive or expressive of an irritable temperament //a cantankerous remark //a cantankerous memoir
- : often difficult to deal with //a cantankerous mule
Other Words
- cantankerously adverb
- cantankerousness noun
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
acid bearish bilious bloody-minded [chiefly British] disagreeable dyspeptic ill-humored ill-natured ill-tempered ornery splenetic surlyAntonyms
amiable good-humored good-natured good-temperedExamples
- //a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed to change
First Known Use
circa 1736, in the meaning defined at sense 1aHistory and Etymology
perhaps irregular from obsolete contack contention