Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Contentious |
ContentiousAdjective1. Inclined or showing an inclination to dispute or disagree, even to engage in law suits; "a style described as abrasive and contentious"; "a disputatious lawyer"; "a litigious and acrimonious spirit". 2. Involving or likely to cause controversy; "a central and contentious element of the book"- Tim W.Ferfuson. 3. Having or showing a ready disposition to fight; "bellicose young officers"; "a combative impulse"; "a contentious nature". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "contentious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Etymology: Contentious \Con*ten"tious\, adjective. [Latin expression contentiosus: compare to the French expression contentieux.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: ContentiousSynonyms: battleful (adj), bellicose (adj), combative (adj), disputatious (adj), disputative (adj), litigious (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Contention | Competitive, rival; belligerent; contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful; warlike; quarrelsome; pugnacious; pugilistic, gladiatorial; palestric, palestrical. |
Discord | Adjective: discordant; disagreeing; Verb: out of tune, ajar, on bad terms, dissentient; unreconciled, unpacified; contentious. |
Irascibility | Querulous, captious, moodish; quarrelsome, contentious, disputatious; pugnacious; (bellicose); cantankerous, exceptious; restiff; (perverse) a; churlish; (discourteous). |
Warfare | Adjective: contending, contentious; armed, armed to the teeth, armed cap-a-pie; sword in hand; in arms, under arms, up in arms; at war with; bristling with arms; in battle array, in open arms, in the field; embattled; battled. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Contentious |
| English words defined with "contentious": Bateful, battleful, bellicose, Brigose ♦ combative, combatively, Concertative ♦ Debateful, Discordful, Dissensious ♦ scrappily, sea lawyer, Squabbler, Squarer, Strifeful ♦ Voluntary jurisdiction ♦ Wranglesome. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "contentious": Animal identification and traceback ♦ Dunmow Flitch. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "contentious": Wranglesome. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Chuang Tse | Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | He gave it to the use of the industrious and rational, (and labour was to be his title to it;) not to the fancy or covetousness of the quarrelsome and contentious. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | KwaZulu-Natal has just selected the contentious winners. (references) | |
It is not so surprising, then, that energy policy is a highly contentious issue in Norway. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Pakistan | The resettlement of Biharis continued to be a contentious issue. (references) |
Bahrain | Although there are no formal regulations limiting academic freedom, in practice academics avoid contentious political issues. (references) | |
United Kingdom | Of the 3,440 parades held between April 2000 and March 2001, 235 were considered contentious; the Parades Commission imposed restrictions on 175. In July the Parades Commission barred one of the loyalist Orange Order processions from marching. (references) | |
Economic History | Argentina | Resolution of some of these cases has been contentious and time consuming. (references) |
Niger | The debate was often contentious and accusatory, but under the leadership of Prof. (references) | |
Argentina | However, extension of adequate patent protection to pharmaceuticals has been a highly contentious bilateral issue. (references) | |
Minorities | Bhutan | Measures included a requirement that national dress be worn for official occasions and as a school uniform, the teaching of Dzongkha as a second language in all schools, and an end to instruction in Nepali as a second language During the mid- and late 1980's, citizenship became a highly contentious matter. (references) |
Political Economy | Nigeria | Following contentious negotiations, the President agreed to only a two-naira-per-liter increase. (references) |
Nigeria | Relations between President Obasanjo and the country's 36 governors are occasionally frosty and contentious. (references) | |
Political Rights | Bahrain | The Majlis ended its 9th session in May and began its 10th session on October 2. During the year, the Majlis debated several contentious social and economic issues, including municipal council elections, unemployment, health regulations, and early retirement for female civil servants, and drafted proposals on these and other topics for government consideration. (references) |
Trade | Germany | The most contentious issue in the negotiations concerned the use in the United States of chlorinated water and other anti-microbial treatments in poultry processing. (references) |
Taiwan | Other than WTO accession issues, market access for U.S.-made medical devices and pharmaceuticals has been one of the most contentious trade issues between the United States and Taiwan over the last five years. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | We could focus on some of the less contentious spending cuts that are still pending before the Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Contentious" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.80% of the time. "Contentious" is used about 491 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.8% | 490 | 12,222 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.2% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 491 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "contentious". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Rabbah | N/A | Biblical | Contentious |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "contentious": argumentative contentious disputatious disputative litigious ♦ contentious issue ♦ Contentious jurisdiction ♦ non contentious. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "contentious": contentious-administrative. | |
Ending with "contentious": non-contentious. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
contentious | 8 |
contentious woman | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "contentious"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | kundërshtues (averse, contradictory, controversial, deprecative, dissentient, objector, reactionary, recusant, refractory), i diskutueshëm (controversial, debatable, litigious, moot, outstanding, problematic, questionable), grindavec (arguer, cantankerous, captious, caviller, crab, crank, croaker, disputant, fractious, fretful, ill tempered, noisy person, peevish, pettish, quarrelsome, spitfire, wrangler). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كثير الخصام, مثير للنزاع, مشاكس (aggressive, bitchy, cantankerous, currish, dissentious, fresh, obstreperous, ornery, petulant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, rowdy, sorehead, termagant, truculent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | свадлив (cantankerous, crabbed, crusty, cursed, quarrelsome, rowdy, shrewish, termagant, ugly, vixenish), спорен (argumentative, attackable, controversial, debatable, disputable, litigious, moot, outstanding, problematic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 引起争论. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | svárlivý (argumentative, bellicose, belligerent, bitchy, cantankerous, quarrelsome, termagant), sporný (at issue, controversial, debatable, disputable, disputant, litigious, polemic, questionable, vexed), hašteřivý (argumentative, cantankerous, quarrelsome, querulous, strident), diskutabilní (arguable, controversial, questionable). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | متنازع فیه , ستیزه جو (Contestant, Currish, Intractable, Pugilist, Quarrelsome, Scrappy, Striver), ستیزگر (Militant, Quarrelsome, Warlike), دعواءی (Barrator, Bellicose, Obstreperous, Pugilist). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | chamailleur, querelleur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | strittig (controversial, debatable, debatably, disputable, iffy), streitsüchtig (aggressive, argumentative, bellicose, belligerent, cantankerous, contentiously, disputatious, litigious, pugnacious, pugnaciously, quarrelsome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | φιλόνικοσ (disputatious, quarrelsome, scraper, scrappy, shrewish, stickler), αμφισβητήσιμοσ (contestable, controversial, controvertible, debatable, questionable), διαμφισβητούμενοσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מחרחר ריב (bellicose), וכוחי (argumentative, controversial). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | vitatott (controversial, disputed, vexed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | suka bertengkar (quarrelsome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | controverso (argumentative, controversial, moot), contenzioso (litigious), polemico (argumentative, controversial, disputatious, polemical), litigioso (cantankerous, fractious, litigious, quarrelsome, rowdy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 争訟 (dispute by legal action), 争い好き (quarrelsome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | そうしょう (dispute by legal action, general term, inheritance, master, symmetry, teacher, wound), あらそいずき (quarrelsome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | streeuailtagh (antagonist, antagonistic, bickerer, conflicting, contentious person, contestant, discordant, disputant, opponent, pugnacious), arganeagh (arguer, argumentative, debatable, remonstrative). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ontentiouscay controverso (controversial, litigious, polemic), contencioso (litigious), litigioso (litigious). (various references) litigios (controversial, litigant, litigious), gâlcevitor (brawler, quarrelsome, squabbler, wrangler), discutabil (arguable, contestable, controversial, controvertible, debatable, disputable, doubtful, impugnable, moot, questionable, undecided), atacabil (assailable, contestable, disputable). (various references) спорный (arguable, argumentative, attackable, controversial, controvertible, debatable, deniable, disputable, impugnable, litigious, moot, open to objection, open to question, vexed point, vexed question). (various references) strìtheil (a. contentious). (various references) svadljiv (bloody minded, cantankerous, fractious, quarrelsome, scrappy, shrewish), sporan (arguable, controversial, debatable, disputable, disputatious, exceptionable, impugnable, moot, uncertain, vexed). (various references) contencioso (dispute). (various references) stridslysten (bellicose, combative, controversial, disputatious, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, scrappy, truculent, warlike), omtvistad (contested, controversial, disputed, moot, vexed), grälsjuk (cantankerous, currish, quarrelsome, shrewish), bråkig (disorderly, fractious, noisy, restless, rowdy, troublesome, turbulent, uproarious). (various references) tartışmalı (controversial, eristic, explosive, moot, polemic, vexed), mücâdeleci (bellicose, crusader), kavgacı (aggressive, bellicose, belligerent, combatant, combative, disagreeable, disputatious, fighter, litigious, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, ruffian, scrappy, spoiling for a fight, turbulent, warlike, wrangler), çekişmeli (dingdong). (various references) сварливий (angular, cantankerous, currish, doggish, frumpish, grumpy, ill tempered, ill-conditioned, peevish, pugnacious, quarreling, quarrelling, quarrelsome, shrewish, termagant, ugly), спірний (arguable, argumentative, controversial, debatable, deniable, disputable, eristic, impugnable, litigious, moot, outstanding, vexed), задирливий (aggressive, provocative, provocatory). (various references) có thể tranh tụng; dính v o chuyện kiện tụng, phải kiện; có thể tranh chấp, hay sinh sự lôi thôi, hay gây gỗ (bellicose, pugnacious), hay cãi nhau, hay c khịa. (various references) cynhennus (quarrelsome), ymryson.gar, ymrafaelgar (quarrelsome), anghysonair. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | contentiosa, contentiose, contentiosus, litigiosus, pugnax. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 27, Verse 15 |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Tecta perstillantia in die frigoris et litigiosa mulier conparantur |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Rooues thury droppende in the dai of cold, and a womman ful of strif ben comparisound togidere. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Like an unending dropping on a day of rain is a bitter-tongued woman. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 27, Verse 15 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Ang kanunay nga pagtulo sa adlaw sa ting-ulan Ug ang usa ka makig-awayon nga babaye managsama: |
| Croatian | Streha što prokišnjava za žestoke kiše i svadljiva žena - jedno su te isto. |
| Danish | Ustandseligt Tagdryp en Regnvejrsdag og trættekær Kvinde ligner hinanden; |
| Dutch | Een gedurige druiping ten dage des slagregens en een kijfachtige huisvrouw zijn even gelijk. |
| Finnish | Räystäästä tippuva vesi sadepäivänä ja toraisa vaimo ovat yhdenveroiset. |
| French | Une gouttière continue dans un jour de pluie Et une femme querelleuse sont choses semblables. |
| German | Ein zänkisches Weib und stetiges Triefen, wenn's sehr regnet, werden wohl miteinander verglichen. |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Yon fanm ki toujou ap chache kont, se tankou yon goutyè k'ap degoute lè lapli ap tonbe tout lajounen. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Istri yang suka pertengkaran seperti bunyi hujan yang turun seharian. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Bocor yang bertitik-titik selalu pada masa hujan deras, ia itu sama dengan seorang bini yang bantahan. |
| Italian | Il gocciolar continuo in tempo di pioggia e una moglie litigiosa, si rassomigliano: |
| Maori | ¶ He maturuturu e puputu tonu ana i te ra nui te ua, he wahine ngangare, rite tonu raua: |
| Norwegian | Et stadig takdrypp på en regndag og en trettekjær kvinne ligner hverandre. |
| Portuguese | A goteira contínua num dia chuvoso e a mulher rixosa são semelhantes; |
| Rumanian | O strawinq, care picurq necurmat kntr`o zi de ploaie, wi o nevastq gklcevitoare sknt tot una. |
| Russian | оЕ ТЕУФБООБС ЛБ ЕМШ Ч "ПЦ"МЙЧЩК "ЕОШ Й УЧБТМЙЧБС ЦЕОБ--ТБЧОЩ: |
| Spanish | Gotera continua en un día de lluvia y mujer rencillosa son semejantes; |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "contentious": contentiously, contentiousness, contentiousnesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "contentious": uncontentious. (additional references) | |
| |
"Contentious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cintentious, conentious, contengious, contenious, contentieuses, contentieux, contentios, contentiuos, contentous, contentus, contenzioso, contientious, continious, contintiious, contintious, cotentious. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "contentious" (pronounced kunte"nshus) |
| 6 | -t e" n sh u s | pretentious, unpretentious. |
| 5 | -e" n sh u s | conscientious, tendentious. |
| 4 | -n sh u s | conscious, subconscious, unconscious. |
| 3 | -sh u s | ambitious, anxious, atrocious, audacious, auspicious, capacious, capricious, cautious, delicious, efficacious, expeditious, facetious, factitious, fallacious, ferocious, fictitious, flirtatious, fractious, gracious, hellacious, herbaceous, inauspicious, infectious, injudicious, judicious, loquacious, luscious, malicious, nauseous, noxious, nutritious, obnoxious, ostentatious, overambitious, pernicious, precious, precocious, predaceous, propitious, pugnacious, rambunctious, rapacious, repetitious, salacious, sebaceous, seditious, semiprecious, spacious, specious, superstitious, surreptitious, suspicious, tenacious, vexatious, vicious, vivacious, voracious. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-i-n-n-o-o-s-t-t-u" | |
-2 letters: continues, continuos, contusion. | |
-3 letters: connotes, contents, continue, continuo, coonties, counties, stenotic, tinstone, tonetics, tontines, unctions. | |
-4 letters: conines, connote, consent, content, contest, contuse, coontie, cooties, cottons, cutties, intents, intones, ionones, isotone, neuston, nonsuit, notices, notions, nuncios, scottie, section, stouten, suction, tennist, tension, tenutos, testoon, tonetic, toniest, tontine, tootsie, tunnies, unction. | |
-5 letters: centos, cestoi, coitus, conies. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-i-n-n-o-o-s-t-t-u" | |
+2 letters: contentiously, counterpoints, uncontentious. | |
+3 letters: autoinfections, counteractions, deconstruction, documentations, reconstitution, reconstruction. | |
+4 letters: contentiousness, counterquestion, deconstructions, nonconstructive, reconstitutions, reconstructions, reintroductions, thermojunctions. | |
+5 letters: constitutionless, counterpetitions, counterquestions, counterreactions, overconstructing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Quotations: Historic 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Quotations: Speeches | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Derived from 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
