as in critical
given to making or expressing unfavorable judgments about things
a captious and cranky eater who's never met a vegetable he didn't hate
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Recent Examples of captious
So much of the new sobriety flex is anathema to the captious alcoholics of 12-step groups.
—
Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 19 Apr. 2022
That a right-wing party traditionally captious about American patriotism did not react heatedly to evidence of Russian interference in US elections is bizarre.
—Darryl Pinckney, The New York Review of Books, 5 Nov. 2020
Berryman was a captious and self-heating complainer, slow to cool.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for captious
Adjective
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Welfare advocates, long highly critical of the San Jose animal shelter, are warning of a potential legal fight if the agency fails to improve animal care — accusing the city of neglect, gross negligence and repeating violations of state law.—
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Construction plans indicate that China intends to demolish and rebuild a basement wall, placing officials and equipment just over three feet from critical fiber-optic cables.—
Adjective
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And while the shoes’ combination of hypercritical foams and carbon fiber is primarily intended for race days, technology tends to trickle down to sneakers for every day, recovery and tempo runs — creating a ripple effect across the marketplace.—
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My hypercritical brain took this imperfection and ran with it.—
Adjective
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Shepard, who is also dad to 12-year-old daughter Lincoln with his wife Kristen Bell, said that when Delta first approached him about wanting to become a mom, he was focused on not appearing judgmental.—
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Someone might stretch the truth or make judgmental allegations.—
Cite this Entry
“Captious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/captious. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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