captious

Meanings

• adjective

  Given to finding fault; overcritical.

  - "The captious critic found fault with every detail."
  - "His captious nature made it difficult for him to appreciate others' efforts."

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Pronunciation

1. /ˈkæpʃəs/
   
   
   
   Source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88942957"

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Synonyms

carping , critical , faultfinding , hypercritical , nitpicky , sophistical , thorny , tricky

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Rhymes

Words rhyming with captious
apples , hazels , jazzes , mazes , razes

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Variants

List of all variants of captious that leads to same result
captious , captiously , captiousness , captiousnesses

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Etymology

origin and the way in which meanings have changed throughout history.

From Latin captiosus, 'clever, cunning, deceitful, alluring', from capere, 'to take'. The meaning 'critical, fault-finding' developed in English in the late 15th century.

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Trivia

Any details, considerations, events or pieces of information regarding the word

1. The word 'captious' is related to the word 'capable'. Both words come from the Latin word 'capere', which means 'to take'.

2. In medieval literature, a captious argument was a clever or cunning argument, often used in debates or disputations.

3. The word 'captious' is sometimes used interchangeably with the word 'fastidious', but 'fastidious' implies a more refined or discriminating taste, while 'captious' implies a critical and fault-finding nature.

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Related Concepts

informations on related concepts or terms closely associated with the word. Discuss semantic fields or domains that the word belongs to

1. critical thinking: A mental process of actively and objectively analyzing and evaluating information to form a judgement.

2. overcritical: Excessively critical or fault-finding.

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Culture

Any cultural, historical, or symbolic significance of the word. Explore how the word has been used in literature, art, music, or other forms of expression.

Captious is often used in literary contexts to describe characters who are overly critical or nit-picky. For example, in Charles Dickens' 'David Copperfield', the character Uriah Heep is described as captious and hypocritical.

How to Memorize "captious"

1. visualize
   

   - Visualize the word 'captious' as a critical, fault-finding person or character.

2. associate
   

   - Associate the word 'captious' with the idea of being overly critical or finding fault.

3. mnemonics
   

   - Create a mnemonic phrase such as 'Captious Critic' to help remember the meaning of the word.

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