captious
/ˈkæpʃəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.19 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
That captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading arguments; sophistical.
Obsolete
adj
Having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections; cavilling, nitpicky.
Example Sentences
- "[…]I know I loue in vaine, ſtriue againſt hope : Yet in this captious, and intemible Siue I ſtill poure in the waters of my loue And lacke not to looſe ſtill[…]"
- "A captious queſtion, Sir, and your’s is one, Deſerves an anſwer ſimilar, or none."
- "Were you aware that in your discourse last Sunday you attributed the captious Problem of the Sadducees to the Pharisees, as a proof of the obscure and sensual doctrines of the latter?"
- "...not an irritable word had escaped him; and as every captious conclusion and petulant observation had been in days past always attributed, very justly, by Isabella either to the dyspepsia, brought on by his grief for Margarita, or the fever he sustained from the climate,..."
- "But Peter Petrovich did not accept this retort. On the contrary, he became all the more captious and irritable, as though he were just hitting his stride."
- "The "Our Bold" column, nitpicking at errors in other periodicals, can look merely captious, and its critics often seem to be wildly and collectively wrong-headed."
Etymology
From Middle English capcious, from Middle French captieux, or its source, Latin captiōsus, from captiō.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
more captious (comparative)
most captious (superlative)