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Meaning of CONTENTIOUS

Pronunciation:  kun'tenshus

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. [adj]  having or showing a ready disposition to fight; "bellicose young officers"; "a combative impulse"; "a contentious nature"
  2. [adj]  involving or likely to cause controversy; "a central and contentious element of the book"- Tim W.Ferfuson
  3. [adj]  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"
 
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 Synonyms: aggressive, argumentative, battleful, bellicose, combative, controversial, disputatious, disputative, litigious
 

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
\Con*ten"tious\, a. [L. contentiosus: cf. F.
contentieux.]
1. Fond of contention; given to angry debate; provoking
   dispute or contention; quarrelsome.
         Despotic and contentious temper.      --Macaulay.
2. Relating to contention or strife; involving or
   characterized by contention. --Spenser.
         More cheerful, though not less contentious, regions.
                                               --Brougham.
3. (Law) Contested; litigated; litigious; having power to
   decide controversy.
{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.
 
Thesaurus Terms
 
 Related Terms: 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
 

 

 

 

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