cantankerous adj

1 stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate; "unions...have never been as bloody-minded about demarcation as the shipbuilders"- Spectator [syn: bloody-minded]

2 having a difficult and contrary disposition; "a cantankerous and venomous-tongued old lady"- Dorothy Sayers [syn: crotchety, ornery]

English

Etymology

Perhaps derived from earlier contenkerous, from contentious + rancorous.

Pronunciation

• /kænˈtæŋkəɹəs/ or /kənˈtæŋkəɹəs/

Adjective

1. Stubborn, cranky, or surly

   The cantankerous landlord always grumbled when asked to fix something.

Translations

• Czech: nevrlý, hašteřivý
• Finnish: riidanhaluinen, ilkeä
• Polish: przewrotny, kłótliwy

bad-tempered, bearish, bilious, bitchy, cankered, choleric, churlish, contrary, crabbed, crabby, cranky, cross, cross-grained, crotchety, crusty, cussed, difficult, disagreeable, dour, dyspeptic, excitable, feisty, fractious, froward, grouchy, grumpy, huffish, huffy, ill-conditioned, ill-natured, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, liverish, mean, morose, ornery, peevish, perverse, petulant, prickly, quarrelsome, snappish, sour, spiteful, spleeny, splenetic, stuffy, sulky, sullen, surly, testy, tetchy, touchy, ugly, vinegarish, vinegary, waspish, wayward, wrongheaded