as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed to change
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Recent Examples of cantankerous
This is sort of a fitting end for the most cantankerous Fromvillian.
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Erik Kain, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
There’s a nice thread of That Christmas that eventually focuses on a budding friendship between Danny and his neighbor and teacher Ms. Trapper (Fiona Shaw), a cantankerous woman who makes the Grinch seem amiable.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Oct. 2024
Walker says one touchpoint was the cantankerous Muppet critics Statler and Waldorf.
—Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024
Because the umpire, a cantankerous aging hippie, goes by the book, the game nearly doesn’t happen at all, when one guy’s obliviousness to game time risks his team being a player short.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cantankerous 
Erik Kain, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
There’s a nice thread of That Christmas that eventually focuses on a budding friendship between Danny and his neighbor and teacher Ms. Trapper (Fiona Shaw), a cantankerous woman who makes the Grinch seem amiable.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Oct. 2024
Walker says one touchpoint was the cantankerous Muppet critics Statler and Waldorf.
—Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024
Because the umpire, a cantankerous aging hippie, goes by the book, the game nearly doesn’t happen at all, when one guy’s obliviousness to game time risks his team being a player short.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cantankerous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cantankerous
Adjective
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Coupled with erratic blood sugar levels – often caused by diets high in refined sugars and low in nutrients – these energy dips and spikes can leave you feeling irritable and drained.Lina Begdache, The Conversation, 7 Jan. 2025
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This can contribute to symptoms such as fatigue, muscle aches, and irritable mood.Rosanna Sutherby, PharmD, Verywell Health, 3 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Waves of immigration have sparked an angry ethno-nationalism that advantages ideological extremes.Charles A. Kupchan, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2025
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There’s also a troubling recurrent theme of angry, violent, and/or distraught mothers, who we are asked to watch suffer or inflict suffering on others time and time again.Ben Travers, IndieWire, 9 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The offensive line, in Monken’s estimation, is the most talented and possibly most ornery unit he’s had at West Point, all the way down to wrestling each other to settle arguments about who’s tougher.Brian Hamilton, The Athletic, 21 Nov. 2024
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They’re led by John Dutton III, an ornery character who nevertheless carries the kind of gravitas that only a veteran movie star like Kevin Costner can bring.Noel Murray, Vulture, 18 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The Pacific Northwest, which has played host to a series of surly atmospheric rivers and a bomb cyclone in recent days, should finally quiet down.Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 25 Nov. 2024
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Long assumed to be man-eaters, hammerhead sharks live in Florida, but very rarely bother humans. Sharks to watch out for in Florida (click for more): Bull Shark The prizefighter of the ocean: stout, surly and stubborn.Erik Vance, New York Times, 26 July 2024
Adjective
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Sometimes that means confronting disagreeable people.David Plazas, The Tennessean, 24 Apr. 2024
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The most important reason to avoid obsessing over China’s disagreeable regime, however, is that this fixation threatens a core U.S. advantage: Washington’s wide network of partners and allies.Evan S. Medeiros, Foreign Affairs, 8 July 2021
Adjective
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And while there is enough splenetic wit and manic detail to generate obsessive fandom (entire sections of Web sites are dedicated to deciphering just what Kenny is mumbling), subjects like alien abduction, genetic engineering, and Kathie Lee are hardly original targets for satire.Chris Norris, SPIN, 13 Aug. 2022
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Meanwhile, the commentator and controversialist Piers Morgan, an obsessively close observer and relentless critic of Meghan, inevitably waded in with his usual splenetic views.Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 17 Sep. 2022
Adjective
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Everyone within her radius bears the germophobe’s wrath, with the only one who can occasionally pierce through her bilious anger being her upbeat hair-stylist sister Chantal (Michelle Austin), a mother of two vibrant daughters.Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 10 Jan. 2025
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The piece ran under an illustration of a black spatula dripping sinister goblets of melting plastic, against a background of bilious green.Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Cantankerous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cantankerous. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.
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