restive

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   impatient especially under restriction or delay

   The government has done nothing to ease restrictions and manufacturers are growing restive.

2. 2
   adj

   Impatient under delay, duress, or control.

   The horses were now more restive than ever, and Johann was trying to hold them in.

Simplified etymology

Restive comes from Latin restare, “to remain,” and originally meant “inclined to stay still” or “inert.” It was especially applied to a horse that stubbornly stood still or shifted instead of advancing, from which the modern sense “restless or fidgety” developed in the mid-19th century.

Modification of earlier restiff, from Middle English restyf, from Old French restif, from rester (“to stay, remain”), from Latin restō. * Shares an etymology with rest ("to remain," obsolete) *Merriam-Webster states that this word was originally used to describe horses that disobeyed commands. Presumably, then, the word came to mean fidgety or anxious more broadly.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary