contentious

1. 1.

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

   “a style described as abrasive and contentious”

   “a disputatious lawyer”

   “a litigious and acrimonious spirit”

   Synonymscombativedisputatiousdisputativelitigious

   Similarargumentative
2. 2.

   involving or likely to cause controversy

   “a central and contentious element of the book”

   Similarcontroversial

Questions about contentious

What does contentious mean?

contentious means "inclined or showing an inclination to dispute or disagree, even to engage in law suits". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in contentious?

contentious has 3 syllables: con-ten-tious. The stress falls on "ten". In IPA it is /kənˈtɛnʃəs/.

What is another word for contentious?

Close synonyms include combative, disputatious, disputative, litigious. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is contentious a common word?

contentious is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with contentious?

2 words rhyme with contentious. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.