captious C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈkæpʃəs/ UK /ˈkæpʃəs/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj inclined to find trivial faults; carping His captious comments picked apart every minor detail. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · inclined to find trivial... carpingfaultfindingcavilinghypercriticalcensoriousquibbling ↔ Opposites toleranteasygoinguncriticallenient Word family Derived forms captiouslycaptiousness Related forms capturecaptivate Etymology AI details From Latin captiōsus ('fallacious, ensnaring'), from captiō ('a taking, deception'), from capere ('to take, seize'). captiōsus Latin capere Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # captious **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈkæpʃəs/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈkæpʃəs/ ## Meanings 1. inclined to find trivial faults; carping ## Examples - His captious comments picked apart every minor detail. ## Synonyms - carping - faultfinding - caviling - hypercritical - censorious - quibbling ## Antonyms - tolerant - easygoing - uncritical - lenient ## Derived Forms - captiously - captiousness ## Related Forms - capture - captivate ## Roots and Affixes - Root: captiōsus - Root: capere ## Etymology From Latin captiōsus ('fallacious, ensnaring'), from captiō ('a taking, deception'), from capere ('to take, seize'). ## AI Etymology Captious comes from Latin captiōsus ('fallacious, ensnaring'), from captiō ('a taking, deception'), from capere ('to take, seize'). The historical trail runs through captiōsus in Latin and capere in Latin. Used as an adjective, captious now means "inclined to find trivial faults; carping", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as captiously and captiousness and related forms such as capture and captivate. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown