cantankerous

cantankerous
adjective
can·;tan·;ker·;ous kan-;ta;-k(;-)r;s  k;n-
Synonyms of cantankerous
: difficult or irritating to deal with
a cantankerous mule
cantankerously adverb
cantankerousness noun


Did you know?
The Origin of Cantankerous Is Mysterious

A person described as cantankerous may find it more difficult than most to turn that frown upside down, while a cantankerous mule/jalopy/etc. is difficult to deal with—it may not turn in your desired direction. It’s been speculated that cantankerous is a product of the obsolete word contack, meaning “contention,” under the influence of a pair of “difficult” words still in use: rancorous and cankerous. Rancorous brings the anger and “bitter deep-seated ill will” (as rancor can be understood to mean), and cankerous brings the perhaps understandable foul mood: a cankerous person suffers from painful sores—that is, cankers.

Synonyms
irritable
angry
ornery
surly
disagreeable
dyspeptic
splenetic
bilious
Examples of cantankerous in a Sentence
Contemporaries often found him aloof, standoffish, and cantankerous and his mannerisms and diction inscrutable.
—Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books, 22 Oct. 2009
There are those who contend the hockey maven is a cantankerous old coot—rife with unpopular opinions and quick to assert them
—Rick Harrison, Newsday, 19 Sept. 2004
… it's something ultimately more memorable: a self-portrait of a coolly cantankerous woman, reformed but unrepentant.
—David Gates, New York Times Book Review, 21 Nov. 1999
In his last years, Harriman was the kind of cantankerous old man who once berated a financial planner by threatening to make him sit in the corner and wear a dunce cap.
—Bryan Burrough, Vanity Fair, January 1995
a cantankerous old woman who insisted that nothing should ever be allowed to change
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Post isn’t as great as All the President’s Men — this movie is sort of like its prequel — but its cast is superb, especially Tom Hanks as a cantankerous Bill Bradlee and Meryl Streep as a conflicted Kay Graham.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 20 June 2025
Her cantankerous dad undoubtedly gets the best zingers.
—Jon O'Brien, IndieWire, 10 June 2025
Ten-year-old Louisa is walking on a beach on the Japanese coast at night with her father, a cantankerous college instructor named Serk.
—Sam Worley, Vulture, 2 June 2025
In time, Ian started laughing at other things too: stories Eve made up about a cantankerous Russian named Boris, the word debris, pots clanging, keys jangling.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 16 May 2025

Word History
Etymology
perhaps irregular from obsolete contack contention

First Known Use
1772, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cantankerous was in 1772
See more words from the same year