fractious

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   easily irritated or annoyed

   an incorrigibly fractious young man

2. 2
   adj

   stubbornly resistant to authority or control

   a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness

3. 3
   adj

   Given to troublemaking.

   1835 James Kirke Paulding: The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan Now when the fractious little Beau Napperty heard that Bull had sent over his tenantry to commit trespass upon his marshes, he fell into one of the greatest passions ever known, and swore that Parson Fred should rue the hour he came over into his pastures.

4. 4
   adj

   Irritable; argumentative; quarrelsome.

   1841 Western Farmer and Gardener, Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural Economy. Ed. Thomas Affleck. vol. II. Oct. 1840 to Sept. 1841. Fractious boys should be taught to govern their own tempers before they have the full control of oxen; and fractious men should remember that he who controls his own spirit is mightier than many who govern whole cities.

5. 5
   adj

   unpredictably difficult in operation

Etymology

From fraction (“discord”) (now obsolete) + -ous.