Restive
adj ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Impatient under delay, duress, or control.
"The horses were now more restive than ever, and Johann was trying to hold them in."
- 2 Resistant to control; stubborn.
"Yet I am of Opinion, this Defect ariſeth chiefly from a perverſe, reſtive Diſpoſition. For they are cunning, malicious, treacherous and revengeful."
- 3 Refusing to move, especially in a forward direction.
- 1 impatient especially under restriction or delay wordnet
- 2 being in a tense state wordnet
Example
More examples"The politician's unctuous smile failed to calm the restive crowd demanding real answers."
Etymology
Modification of earlier restiff, from Middle English restyf, from Old French restif, from rester (“stay, remain”), from Latin restō. * Shares an etymology with rest ("remain," obsolete) *Merriam-Webster states that this word was originally used to describe horses that disobeyed commands. Presumably, then, the word came to mean "fidgety" or "anxious" more broadly.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.