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
Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman Both DeVito and Perlman starred in Burrows sitcoms, DeVito as the cantankerous dispatcher Louie De Palma on Taxi and Pearlman the equally acerbic waitress Carla on Cheers.
—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
19 June 2026
The cantankerous Jackson Lamb is back in a first look at season six of Slow Horses.
—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
11 June 2026
As our cantankerous lead, Molina harumphs lovably from scene to scene, conveying both his character’s indomitable will and the wretchedness of his grief.
—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
31 May 2026
Madge Gates Wallace was 98 years old, nearly deaf and famously cantankerous.
—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cantankerous
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
19 June 2026
The cantankerous Jackson Lamb is back in a first look at season six of Slow Horses.
—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
11 June 2026
As our cantankerous lead, Molina harumphs lovably from scene to scene, conveying both his character’s indomitable will and the wretchedness of his grief.
—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
31 May 2026
Madge Gates Wallace was 98 years old, nearly deaf and famously cantankerous.
—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cantankerous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cantankerous
Adjective
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The symptoms are so delayed that people often blame them on food poisoning, irritable-bowel syndrome, gluten intolerance.
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Cancer could be affectionate and chatty one moment, and withdrawn and irritable the next, with little to no explanation.
Adjective
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Last week, Dipke traveled to several Indian cities, joining thousands of angry demonstrators to demand the education minister’s removal.
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Played by House of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock, Kara’s path crosses that of an angry, sword-wielding teenager, Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), who seeks revenge for her slain family.
Adjective
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Leach also would publicly call out his players and could get ornery when questioned about his team’s shortcomings.
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The rabbi is ornery, arrogant, sometimes cruel.
Adjective
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Or a surly, vengeful Robin Hood, by Kevin Costner.
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The ones who did were a bit sour and surly.
Adjective
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There are also a lot of people who have never dreamed of being disagreeable in public, much less considered joining a raucous social movement.
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The disagreeable object proved no match for the most fertile person in Montana.
Adjective
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Better is Danny Elfman’s spartan and fraught score, particularly the dyspeptic drums.
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But Kael sensed in her less dyspeptic moments that there was something special about Redford.
Adjective
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Still, the internet nurtures these Hobbesian, splenetic views.
Adjective
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Sun shrinking and getting hotter; everything bilious, oxygenless, not great for living.
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Minaj’s bilious flurry is possibly related to claims that she is owed between $100 to 200 million related to her stake in Tidal, the music streaming service launched and spearheaded by Jay-Z in 2015 and was sold to Jack Dorsey’s company Square for $297 million in 2021.
Cite this Entry
“Cantankerous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cantankerous. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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