FRACTIOUS


Meaning of FRACTIOUS in English

ˈfrakshəs adjective

Etymology: fracti on (I) + -ous

1. : tending to cause trouble (as by disobedience or opposition to an established order) : hard to manage or unmanageable : refractory , unruly

a fractious horse

a ship with a fractious crew threatening mutiny throughout the trip

2. : not smooth or free of trouble in operation : likely to function in unpredictable and troublesome ways

rockets and guided missiles are much too fractious to be tested anywhere near a thickly populated area — Time

loudspeakers remain the most fractious of all high-fidelity components — J.M.Conly

3.

a. : quarrelsome , contrary

at the beginning the crowd was captious and fractious , owing to delays and bad arrangements — Arnold Bennett

b. : peevish , irritable

a fractious child

like a fractious mother hen rounding up a brood of willful chicks — H.J.Higdon

Synonyms: see irritable

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.