disputatious

adjective

dis·​pu·​ta·​tious ˌdi-spyə-ˈtā-shəs 

1

a

: inclined to dispute

b

: marked by disputation

2

: provoking debate : controversial

disputatiously adverb

disputatiousness noun

Did you know?

The History of Disputatious Isn't Controversial

Disputatious can be used of both people and things. Disputatious people like to provoke arguments or find something to disagree about. In the "things" category, the word can apply to both situations and issues. For example, court trials are disputatious; that is, they are marked by disputation, or verbal controversy. An issue or matter is disputatious if it provokes controversy. However, if a matter, such as an assertion made by someone, is open to question rather than downright controversial, it's merely disputable. In any case, there's no arguing that both disputatious and its synonym disputative have changed their connotation somewhat from their Latin source, the verb disputare. That word means simply "to discuss."

Synonyms

• aggressive
• agonistic
• argumentative
• assaultive
• bellicose
• belligerent
• brawly
• chippy
• combative
• confrontational
• contentious
• discordant
• feisty
• gladiatorial
• militant
• pugnacious
• quarrelsome
• scrappy
• truculent
• warlike

Examples of disputatious in a Sentence

a long history of little wars waged by the disputatious countries occupying that European peninsula

a disputatious professor who could give you an argument on just about anything

Recent Examples on the Web

Hoback followed Back to a Bitcoin conference in Riga, Latvia, where Back introduced him to one of his younger protégés, a prominent if disputatious Bitcoin developer named Peter Todd. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2024

This disputatious sociopolitical drama is cunningly packaged as a romantic comedy. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2024

Still, even by these disputatious standards, the arguments that have been carrying on around Amherst Regional Middle School, or ARMS, have been vociferous. —Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2024

The 1990s were especially disputatious; civil wars arose on multiple continents, as did major wars in Europe and Africa. —Paul Poast, The Atlantic, 17 Nov. 2023

Hans Küng, a Roman Catholic theologian and priest whose brilliantly disputatious, lucidly expressed thoughts in more than 50 books and countless speeches advanced ecumenism and provoked the Vatican to censure him, died on Tuesday at his home in Tübingen, Germany. —New York Times, 6 Apr. 2021

Mercurial, determined, needy, disputatious—the moods more so than seasons of Acker’s life were rapid, and any biography is bound to contradict and complement and hone the myths that continue to attract us to her writing and her symbol. —Liz Sullivan, Hazlitt, 5 Dec. 2022

Today’s disputatious conservatives are leading our latest effort to conjoin individual freedom and collective purpose. —Christopher Demuth, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2022

Its lament resonates for art once seen as a disputatious civic forum, now overrun by the hard coin of investment markets. —Los Angeles Times, 21 Nov. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1660, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

disputatious

adjective

dis·​pu·​ta·​tious ˌdis-pyə-ˈtā-shəs 

: likely to dispute or cause dispute

also : marked by disputation

disputatiousness noun