Tuesday word: Captious

[simplyn2deep]

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023

Captious (adjective)
cap·tious [kap-shuhs]

adjective
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 captious remark.
3. apt or designed to ensnare or perplex, especially in argument: captious questions.

OTHER WORDS FROM CAPTIOUS
cap·tious·ly, adverb
cap·tious·ness, noun
non·cap·tious, adjective
non·cap·tious·ly, adverb

WORDS RELATED TO CAPTIOUS
acrimonious, cantankerous, carping, caviling, censorious, contrary, crabby, cross, demanding, deprecating, disparaging, exacting, exceptive, fault-finding, finicky, hypercritical, irritable, nagging, nit-picking, overcritical

See synonyms for captious on Thesaurus.com
OTHER WORDS FOR CAPTIOUS
1. carping, nitpicking, niggling, picky, testy.

ORIGIN: 1350–1400; Middle English capcious < Latin captiosus sophistical, equivalent to capti(o) a taking, hence, sophism (see caption) + -osus-ous

HOW TO USE CAPTIOUS IN A SENTENCE
The human sweetness in him was half dried up, and a misanthropy, so new and alien to him, made him querulous and captious.
THE LIFE OF MAZZINI|BOLTON KING

But the real Hynde Horn in the dear old ballad had a truelove who was not captious and capricious and cold like Francesca.
PENELOPE'S EXPERIENCES IN SCOTLAND|KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN

"There, you hear that," said Lawless, who had just drunk enough to render him captious and obstinate.
FRANK FAIRLEGH|FRANK E. SMEDLEY

The Pharisees, always captious and controversial, sought to entangle the Savior in a discussion on the subject of divorce.
THE TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE CONCERNING THE ASSUMPTIONS OF DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM|S. E. WISHARD