Home Synonyms contentious

Synonyms of contentious in English:

contentious


See US English definition of contentious

See UK English definition of contentious

See Spanish definition of polémico

adjective

1‘a contentious issue’

SYNONYMS
controversial, disputable, debatable, disputed, contended, open to debate, open to question, moot, vexed
ambivalent, equivocal, unsure, uncertain, unresolved, undecided, unsettled, borderline
rare controvertible
ANTONYMS

uncontroversial

2‘a contentious debate’

SYNONYMS
heated, vehement, fierce, violent, intense, impassioned, committed
ANTONYMS

calm

3‘contentious people’

SYNONYMS
argumentative, quarrelsome, disputatious, disputative, confrontational, captious, factious, cavilling, pugnacious, combative, ready for a fight, defiant, hostile, antagonistic, bellicose, belligerent, militant, warring, fighting, battling
threatening, litigious
irascible, cantankerous, irritable, petulant, truculent, fiery, quick-tempered, hot-tempered, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, choleric
bickering, wrangling
British informal stroppy
North American informal scrappy
ANTONYMS

peaceable