Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Quarrelsome |
QuarrelsomeAdjective1. Given to quarreling; "arguing children"; "quarrelsome when drinking". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "quarrelsome" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Synonym: QuarrelsomeSynonym: arguing (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 | Quarrelsome, unpacific; gladiatorial, controversial, polemic, disputatious; factious; litigious, litigant; pettifogging. |
Irascibility | Querulous, captious, moodish; quarrelsome, contentious, disputatious; pugnacious; (bellicose); cantankerous, exceptious; restiff; (perverse) a; churlish; (discourteous). |
Lawsuit | Adjective: litigious; (quarrelsome); qui tam; coram judice, sub judice. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Quarrelsome |
| English words defined with "quarrelsome": Brabbler, Brangler, Brigose ♦ Cat and dog, Concertative, Contentious jurisdiction, crab, crabby person ♦ Debateful ♦ Fire eater, Frampoid ♦ Quarrellous ♦ Rixatrix ♦ Snarler ♦ Wranglesome. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "quarrelsome": Africa ♦ Countercheck Quarrelsome, Cut up Rough ♦ Dogs ♦ Foot-log ♦ JANITOR ♦ Katydids ♦ Lie Quarrelsome ♦ Mother-in-law ♦ Parrot ♦ Salad, Soot. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "quarrelsome": Wranglesome. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Quarrelsome Anglers (1898) Quarrelsome Neighbours (1897) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| 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. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | This spirit of quarrelsome comradeship which he had observed lately in his rival had not seduced Stephen from his habits of quiet obedience. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Quarrelsome" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 93.94% of the time. "Quarrelsome" is used about 66 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) | 93.94% | 62 | 42,755 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.06% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 66 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "quarrelsome". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Rahab | N/A | Biblical | Quarrelsome (applied to Egypt) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "quarrelsome": quarrelsome fellow ♦ quarrelsome person. Additional references. | |
| 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 |
quarrelsome | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "quarrelsome"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | sherret, grindavec (arguer, cantankerous, captious, caviller, contentious, crab, crank, croaker, disputant, fractious, fretful, ill tempered, noisy person, peevish, pettish, spitfire, wrangler), grindës (peevish, pettish), gërnjar (bitchy, carping, finical, finicking, finicky, finikin, fussy, grouch, grouchy, grouse, grouser, grumbler, nag, nagger, nagging, peevish, pettish, petulant, shrewish, termagant, wrangler). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | محب للنزاع, محب للخصام (cantankerous, squabble), مشاكس (aggressive, bitchy, cantankerous, contentious, currish, dissentious, fresh, obstreperous, ornery, petulant, pugnacious, rowdy, sorehead, termagant, truculent), عدواني (aggressive, cantankerous, offensive, petulant, squabble, truculent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | свадлив (cantankerous, contentious, crabbed, crusty, cursed, rowdy, shrewish, termagant, ugly, vixenish), кавгаджийски (scrappy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | svárlivý (argumentative, bellicose, belligerent, bitchy, cantankerous, contentious, termagant), hašteřivý (argumentative, cantankerous, contentious, querulous, strident), hádavý (nagging). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | ستیزه جو (Contentious, Contestant, Currish, Intractable, Pugilist, Scrappy, Striver), ستیزگر (Contentious, Militant, Warlike), جنگار. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | toraisa, riitaisa, riitainen, riidanhaluinen. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | querelleur (quarrelsome person), chamailleur, batailleur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | streitsüchtig (aggressive, argumentative, bellicose, belligerent, cantankerous, contentious, contentiously, disputatious, litigious, pugnacious, pugnaciously), zänkisch (cantankerous, cantankerously, hagglish, nagging, quarrelsomely, shrewish, vixenish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | καυγατζήσ (brawler, broiler, cantankerous, disputant, scraper, scrappy, squabbler, wrangler), φιλόνικοσ (contentious, disputatious, scraper, scrappy, shrewish, stickler), εριστικόσ (combative, pugnacious, rowdy, termagant, vixenish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ק טר י (annoying, catty, provocative, spiteful, teasing, vexing), או"ב מ"ון (pugnacious), וח לכעוס (hot tempered, irascible, quicktempered, splenetic), ר'ן (malcontent, querulous, termagant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | veszekedő (bickering, frumpish, pugnacious, quarrel, scold, shrewish, vixenish, vixenly, wrangler), civakodó (bickering, brawling, cantankerous, cross-grained, frumpish, nagging, pugnacious, rambunctious, shrewish, vixenly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | suka bertengkar (contentious), babil (Babel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | litigioso (cantankerous, contentious, fractious, litigious, rowdy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 争い好き (contentious), 喧嘩早い . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | あらそいずき (contentious), け"かばやい. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | troddanagh (campaigner, combatant, combative, fighting, pugnacious, quarreller), streeuagh (contending, litigious, restive, uncomfortable), bwoailtagh (hammerer, percutient, pounding). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | kranglesyk. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | arrelsomequay irascível (fractious, fretful, intractable, irascible, irritable, spunky, techy, testy, tetchy, touchy, waspish), dado s questões, conflituoso (rowdy), briguento (cantankerous, pugnacious, termagant), brigão (bantam, pugnacious, tough). (various references) gâlcevitor (brawler, contentious, squabbler, wrangler), colţat (cornered, sharp tongued), cicãlitor (annoying, caviller, fault finding, grumbler, nagging, naggy, pestiferous), certãreţ (brawler, cantankerous, captious, discordant, eristic, factious, frumpish, peevish, pugnacious, snappy), cârcotaş (carping, caviller, fault finding, grumbling, grumpy, querulous), arţãgos (cantankerous, contradictious, crabbed, cross-grained, crusty, currish, fractious, gruff, peevish, pettish, snappy). (various references) вздорный (rubbishy, slipslop, ugly). (various references) rutharach. (various references) svadljiv (bloody minded, cantankerous, contentious, fractious, scrappy, shrewish). (various references) pendenciero (quarreler, quarreller, rambunctious, rowdy, squabbler, tough). (various references) stridslysten (bellicose, combative, contentious, controversial, disputatious, militant, pugnacious, scrappy, truculent, warlike), grälsjuk (cantankerous, contentious, currish, shrewish). (various references) kavgacı (aggressive, bellicose, belligerent, combatant, combative, contentious, disagreeable, disputatious, fighter, litigious, militant, pugnacious, ruffian, scrappy, spoiling for a fight, turbulent, warlike, wrangler), huysuz (acrimonious, as cross as two sticks, bad tempered, bilious, cantankerous, churlish, crabbed, crabby, crank, cranky, cross-grained, crosspatch, crotchety, crusty, cursed, difficult, disagreeable, disgruntled, doggish, farouche, fractious, fretful, gnarled, grouchy, gruff, grumbling, grumpy, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-humored, ill-humoured, liverish, mean, Moody, out of humour, out of sorts, peeved, peevish, peppery, perverse, pettish, petulant, prickly, querulous, ratty, rusty, shirty, snappish, spleenful, spleenish, splenetic, stroppy, sulky, surly, tetchy, thrawn, ugly, untoward, vicious, vixenish, waspish, wildcat, wrongheaded), geçimsiz (cantankerous, difficult, out of tune, peppery, unmusical). (various references) igenjeсlik (grumbling), igenjeс (grumbling). (various references) сварливий (angular, cantankerous, contentious, currish, doggish, frumpish, grumpy, ill tempered, ill-conditioned, peevish, pugnacious, quarreling, quarrelling, shrewish, termagant, ugly), заіякуватий. (various references) hay sinh sự, hay câi nhau; hay gây gỗ. (various references) ymrafaelgar (contentious), ffraegar, cynhennus (contentious), cwerylgar, cecrus (acrimonious, cantankerous, pugilistic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | contentiosa, contentiose, contentiosus, litigiosa, litigiosos, litigiosus, seditiosis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "quarrelsome": quarrelsomely, quarrelsomeness, quarrelsomenesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Quarrelsome" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Quaresma, Quarralton. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "quarrelsome" (pronounced kwô"rulsum) |
| 5 | -u l s u m | meddlesome, nettlesome, troublesome. |
| 4 | -l s u m | Balsam, fulsome, wholesome. |
| 3 | -s u m | adventuresome, awesome, blossom, bothersome, burdensome, buxom, cataclysm, cumbersome, fearsome, flotsam, foursome, gruesome, gypsum, handsome, hansom, irksome, loathsome, lonesome, Maxim, opossum, possum, ransom, threesome, tiresome, transom, twosome, venturesome, wearisome, winsome, worrisome. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-e-l-m-o-q-r-r-s-u" | |
-2 letters: rearmouse, remarques. | |
-3 letters: aureoles, marquees, measurer, moresque, quarrels, ramulose, rearouse, remarque, rorquals, squealer. | |
-4 letters: areoles, armours, armures, arouser, aureole, erasure, lemures, marquee, marques, masquer, maulers, measure, morales, morulae, morular, morulas, quaeres, quarrel, reamers, relumes, remoras, remorse, resumer, roamers, rorqual, sequela, serumal, smearer, squalor, squarer, surreal. | |
-5 letters: ameers, amoles, amours, amuser, areole, armers, armors, armour. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-e-l-m-o-q-r-r-s-u" | |
+2 letters: quarrelsomely. | |
+4 letters: quarrelsomeness. | |
| 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: Modern | 5. Quotations: Historic 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Derived from | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
