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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.
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captious
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Captious — Cap tious, a. [F. captieux, L. captiosus. See {Caption}.] 1. Apt to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to cavil; eager to object; difficult to please. [1913 Webster] A captious and suspicious age. Stillingfleet. [1913 Webster] I am… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
captious — [kap′shəs] adj. [ME capcious < L captiosus < CAPTION] 1. made only for the sake of argument or faultfinding [captious criticism] 2. fond of catching others in mistakes; quick to find fault; quibbling; carping SYN. CRITICAL captiously adv.… … English World dictionary
captious — index contentious, contrary, critical (faultfinding), fractious, froward, perverse, petulant, querulous … Law dictionary
captious — (adj.) c.1400, capcyus, from M.Fr. captieux (15c.), from L. captiosus fallacious, from captio (gen. captionis) a deceiving, fallacious argument, lit. a taking (in), from captus, pp. of capere to take, catch (see CAPABLE (Cf. capable)) … Etymology dictionary
captious — caviling, carping, *critical, hypercritical, faultfinding, censorious Analogous words: *contrary, perverse: exacting, demanding (see DEMAND vb): peevish, petulant, snappish, *irritable: testy, choleric, *irascible Antonyms: appreciative … New Dictionary of Synonyms
captious — [adj] very critical acrimonious, cantankerous, carping, caviling, cavillous, censorious, contrary, crabby, cross, demanding, deprecating, disparaging, exacting, exceptive, fault finding, finicky, hypercritical, irritable, nagging, nitpicking,… … New thesaurus
captious — ► ADJECTIVE formal ▪ tending to find fault or raise petty objections. DERIVATIVES captiously adverb captiousness noun. ORIGIN Old French captieux, from Latin capere take, seize ; related to CAPTION(Cf. ↑caption) … English terms dictionary
captious — adjective Etymology: Middle English capcious, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French captieux, from Latin captiosus, from captio deception, verbal quibble, from capere to take more at heave Date: 14th century 1. marked by an often ill natured … New Collegiate Dictionary
captious — captiously, adv. captiousness, n. /kap sheuhs/, adj. 1. apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please. 2. proceeding from a faultfinding or caviling disposition: He could never praise without adding a … Universalium
captious — /ˈkæpʃəs / (say kapshuhs) adjective 1. apt to make much of trivial faults or defects; fault finding; difficult to please. 2. proceeding from a fault finding or cavilling disposition: captious remarks. 3. apt or designed to ensnare or perplex,… …
