Synonyms for captious
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Critical — having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections; cavilling, nitpicky
critical, cross, carping, hypercritical, cynical, perverse, touchy, irritable, petulant, testy, fretful, censorious, peevish, snappish, nit-picky, moody, snappy, fractious, cantankerous, choleric, querulous, waspish
2. Tricky — that captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading…
Definitions
- adj. 1
That captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading arguments; sophistical.
- adj. 2
Having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections; cavilling, nitpicky.
Related words
- Word family
- captiousness caption capture
Example sentences
- critical I can't understand why you are so critical of him.
- cynical You don't seem to be as cynical as Tom seems to be.
- hypercritical His hypercritical attitude annoys me a lot.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| captious | falling | |
| critical | rising | |
| cynical | rising | |
| carping | falling | |
| hypercritical | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- cross1, moody2, testy2
- 6 letters
- tricky2, touchy2, snappy2, thorny2
- 7 letters
- cynical3, carping2, fretful2, peevish2, waspish
- 8 letters
- critical3, perverse2, petulant3, choleric3, snappish
- 9 letters
- irritable4, fractious2, querulous3
- 10 letters
- censorious
- 11 letters
- sophistical
- 12 letters
- cantankerous4
- 13 letters
- hypercritical5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (moody2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- captieux
- Italiano
- capzioso
- Español
- capcioso
- Deutsch
- verfänglich