cantankerous
/kænˈtæŋkəɹəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.34 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Given to or marked by an ill-tempered, quarrelsome nature; ill-tempered, cranky, crabby.
Example Sentences
- ""She is a cantankerous old maid," added another, whom I recognised, by his voice, as a man whose attentions I had put a determined check to not six weeks before: "she is a cantankerous old maid, fretting and snarling over the loss of her beauty.""
- "Murphy's Law never proved itself more accurate than at the Nov. 18 film benefit for Persephone Press. With problems ranging from a cantankerous projector to blown fuses, the presentations of Jan Oxenberg's films were blurred, disrupted and played with lapses in their soundtracks."
- "By contrast, cantankerous and churlish people are contemptuously independent of others’ opinions, not caring enough about others and their views."
- "Nina was thrilled, muttering her cantankerous joy that I was getting out of the house."
- "Unfortunately, as Great-Aunt Bert could be a bit cantankerous, they were having to be creative."
- "The normally cantankerous media did not complain."
Etymology
Inflected Forms
more cantankerous (comparative)
most cantankerous (superlative)