Meanings
comparative more captious · superlative most captious
- obsoleteThat captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading arguments; sophistical.
A captious queſtion, Sir, and your’s is one, Deſerves an anſwer ſimilar, or none.
1786, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in Poems, 2nd edition, volume II, London: J. Johnson, page 3382 more examples
[…]I know I loue in vaine, ſtriue againſt hope : Yet in this captious, and intemible Siue I ſtill poure in the waters of my loue And lacke not to looſe ſtill[…]
1605, William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well, act I, scene i, page 234Were you aware that in your discourse last Sunday you attributed the captious Problem of the Sadducees to the Pharisees, as a proof of the obscure and sensual doctrines of the latter?
1815 March 24, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “To William Lisle Bowles”, in Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Oxford, published 2000, →ISBN, page 558Synonyms: tricky, thorny, sophistical
- Having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections; cavilling, nitpicky.
But Peter Petrovich did not accept this retort. On the contrary, he became all the more captious and irritable, as though he were just hitting his stride.
1968, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Sidney Monas, Crime and Punishment, published 18662 more examples
...not an irritable word had escaped him; and as every captious conclusion and petulant observation had been in days past always attributed, very justly, by Isabella either to the dyspepsia, brought on by his grief for Margarita, or the fever he sustained from the climate,...
1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 23The "Our Bold" column, nitpicking at errors in other periodicals, can look merely captious, and its critics often seem to be wildly and collectively wrong-headed.
2009 January 24, Anne Karpf, The GuardianSynonyms: carping, critical, faultfinding, hypercritical, nitpicky
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveThat captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading arguments; sophistical.
adjectiveHaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections; cavilling, nitpicky.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivetending to find and call attention to faults
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincaptiōsus
- Middle Frenchcaptieux
- Middle Englishcapcious
- Englishcaptious
From Middle English capcious, from Middle French captieux, or its source, Latin captiōsus, from captiō.
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian придирчив, заядлив
- придирчив (pridirčiv)that captures misleadingly
- заядлив (zajadliv)that captures misleadingly
- критичен (kritičen)that captures misleadingly
- придирчив (pridirčiv)having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- заядлив (zajadliv)having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- критичен (kritičen)having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Catalan capciós, criticador
- capciósthat captures misleadingly
- criticadorhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Chinese Mandarin 詭辯的 /诡辩的, 強詞奪理的 /强词夺理的
- 詭辯的 /诡辩的 (guǐbiàn de)that captures misleadingly
- 強詞奪理的 /强词夺理的 (qiǎngcíduólǐ de)that captures misleadingly
- 挑剔 (tiāoti)having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Dutch misleidend, sofistisch
- misleidendthat captures misleadingly
- sofistischthat captures misleadingly
- vitziekhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Finnish harhaanjohtava, pikkumainen
- harhaanjohtavathat captures misleadingly
- pikkumainenhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
French piège, pinailleur
- piègethat captures misleadingly
- pinailleurhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
German spitzfindig, verfänglich
- spitzfindigthat captures misleadingly
- verfänglichthat captures misleadingly
- haarspalterischthat captures misleadingly
- krittelighaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- kleinlichhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- kleinkarierthaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Irish beachtaíoch, gearrghreamannach
- beachtaíochhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- gearrghreamannachhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Italian capzioso, tortuoso.
- capziosothat captures misleadingly
- tortuoso.that captures misleadingly
- ambiguothat captures misleadingly
- ingannevolethat captures misleadingly
- insidiosothat captures misleadingly
- arzigogolatothat captures misleadingly
- capziosohaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- sofisticohaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- cavillosohaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Latin captiōsus
- captiōsusthat captures misleadingly
Māori ngutu-momoho, toretore
- ngutu-momohohaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- toretorehaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Portuguese capcioso, ardiloso
- capciosothat captures misleadingly
- ardilosothat captures misleadingly
- astuciosothat captures misleadingly
- implicantehaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Russian каверзный, хи́трый
- каверзный (kaverznyj)that captures misleadingly
- хи́трый (xítryj)that captures misleadingly
- придирчивый (pridirčivyj)having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- сли́шком стро́гий (slíškom strógij)having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Spanish capcioso, criticón
- capciosothat captures misleadingly
- criticónhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
- pejiguerohaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Turkish müşkülpesent
- müşkülpesenthaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Vietnamese nguỵ biện, hay bắt bẻ
- nguỵ biệnthat captures misleadingly
- hay bắt bẻhaving a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
captious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/captious
“captious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/captious. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “captious,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/captious.
Source: captious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.