disputatious

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/ˌdɪspjʊˈteɪʃəs//ˌdɪspjəˈteɪʃəs/

adjective

Of or relating to something that is in question as to its intent or value.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

adjectivedisputatious (comparative more disputatious, superlative most disputatious)

comparative more disputatious · superlative most disputatious

  1. Of or relating to something that is in question as to its intent or value.
  2. Inclined to argue or debate; provoking debate.

    Certainly there have been bitterly contested elections in this country before. Party spirit is always rife, and in such vivid, excitable, disputatious communities as ours are, and I trust always will be, it is the very soul of freedom.

    1868 October 20, John Lothrop Motley, Four Questions for the People, at the Presidential Election: Address of John Lothrop Motley, before the Parker Fraternity, at the Music Hall, October 20, 1868, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 4
    1 more example

    He was followed by a disputatious gentleman, who had the temerity to maintain before the royal misocapnist (the Counterblast had not as yet issued from the monarch's lips, but his anti-nicotian prejudices were well known,) the thesis, that "tobacco must needs be good;" proceeding to his proof "by enumeration or induction, because Kings, Princes, Nobles, Earles, Lords, Knights, Gentlemen of all Countries and Nations, reckoning a number, loved it."

    1864, “Visit of King James to Oxford in 1605: Tobacologia: Date of ‘Macbeth’”, in Notes and Queries, page 301

    Synonyms: argumentative, contentious, quarrelsome, agonistic, argumentative, bangsome, bellicose, belligerent · Antonyms: conciliatory, pacific, peaceable

Synonyms & antonyms

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveinclined or showing an inclination to dispute or disagree, even to engage in law suits

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

German umstritten, bestritten
  • umstrittenrelating to something that is in question
  • bestrittenrelating to something that is in question
  • kontroversrelating to something that is in question
  • strittigrelating to something that is in question
  • streitbarinclined to argue; provoking debate
  • streitsüchtiginclined to argue; provoking debate
Latin contentiōsus
  • contentiōsusinclined to argue; provoking debate
Scottish Gaelic connsachail, connspaideach
  • connsachailinclined to argue; provoking debate
  • connspaideachinclined to argue; provoking debate
Turkish dalaşkan, kavgacı
  • dalaşkaninclined to argue; provoking debate
  • kavgacıinclined to argue; provoking debate
Cite this entry
APA

disputatious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disputatious

MLA

“disputatious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disputatious. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disputatious,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disputatious.

Source: disputatious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.