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
With a gimlet eye and a surprisingly girlish laugh, Vera is cantankerous, impatient, intensely private, unapologetically disheveled and utterly glorious.
—
Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Asked if there’s another side of Carollo beyond his cantankerous public image, Kelley paused.
—Linda Robertson, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
Carrey portrays Ebenezer Scrooge, a cantankerous, greedy old man who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve who show him the error of his ways.
—Keith Langston, People.com, 14 Dec. 2024
The endearing homecoming introduces new characters including Moni (Hualalai Chung), a passionate island bard; Loto (Rose Matafeo), a quirky shipwright; Kele (David Fane), a cantankerous farmer; and Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), Moana’s tenacious younger sister.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cantankerous 
Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Asked if there’s another side of Carollo beyond his cantankerous public image, Kelley paused.
—Linda Robertson, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
Carrey portrays Ebenezer Scrooge, a cantankerous, greedy old man who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve who show him the error of his ways.
—Keith Langston, People.com, 14 Dec. 2024
The endearing homecoming introduces new characters including Moni (Hualalai Chung), a passionate island bard; Loto (Rose Matafeo), a quirky shipwright; Kele (David Fane), a cantankerous farmer; and Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), Moana’s tenacious younger sister.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cantankerous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cantankerous
Adjective
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By the end, Liverpool’s players seemed tired and Klopp was irritable, clearly in need of a rest.—
Simon Hughes,
The Athletic,
20 Jan. 2025
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The trio’s sixth record is charmingly irritable in both of its moods: hopped up on fluffy coffee while cracking baseball jokes, or dragging out downbeats and lamenting power structures to goad listeners with mounting anticipation.—
Madison Bloom,
Pitchfork,
4 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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As a result, Black individuals were beaten at random by angry mobs throughout the nation’s capital, including outside of the White House, according to BlackPast, which reported police didn’t intervene.—
Julia Marnin,
Miami Herald,
22 Jan. 2025
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One protester was shot to death by a Capitol police officer while at the head of an angry mob pushing through a door.—
The Editors,
National Review,
22 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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That criticism, along with other struggles, has seemingly influenced Davis to be in a surly and unpredictable mood over the past two months.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes,
12 Jan. 2025
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Nero is a cynical and surly assassin who is betrayed by his master and long-term ally.—
Anthony D'Alessandro,
Deadline,
19 Nov. 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 4 Feb. 2025.
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