Contentious

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kənˈtɛn.ʃəs/

Definitions

1. Involving or likely to cause disputes and disagreements due to differing perspectives
2. Characterized by a propensity to provoke arguments and controversies among opposing viewpoints
3. Tending to spark disputes or provoke opposing opinions in discussions

Etymology: The Latin root of "contentious" carries a physical sense that the modern meaning has largely lost. "Contendere" meant to stretch or strain something tight, and it extended from that to straining against an opponent, which is how the Romans came to use it for struggling, competing and disputing. Its past participle "contentus" gave Latin the noun "contentio", meaning a struggle or dispute, and from that noun came "contentiosus", a word meaning quarrelsome or perverse. The adjective passed into Middle French as "contentieux", where it kept the sense of being inclined to dispute, and English later borrowed it from there. Its construction is transparent once you see the parts: "contention" plus the suffix "-ous", meaning full of or given to. Someone described as contentious is, literally, full of contention.

Synonyms: controversial, disputatious, argumentative, quarrelsome, belligerent

Antonyms: peaceful, agreeable, harmonious, uncontroversial, conciliatory