Cantankerous

//kænˈtæŋkəɹəs//

Synonyms for "cantankerous" (134 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (27)

Adjective(1 words)
bloody-minded

Strong matches (40)

Adjective(1 words)
crotchety

Related words (67)

Adjective(1 words)
ornery

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

4 relation types

Synonyms

8 entries

derived

4 entries

related to

4 entries

similar

5 entries

Translations

63 translations across 23 languages.

Powered by Wiktionary

Bulgarian

2 entries
  • заядлив adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • придирчив adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Czech

2 entries
  • hašteřivý adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • nevrlý adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Danish

2 entries
  • krakilsk adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • kværulantisk adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Dutch

2 entries
  • dwars adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • korzelig adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Esperanto

4 entries
  • grumblema adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • incitiĝema adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • kolerema adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • kverelema adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Finnish

2 entries
  • kärttyisä adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • pahantuulinen adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

French

1 entries
  • irritable adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Galician

4 entries
  • bufiñón adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • fungón adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • rosmón adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • roñón adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

German

4 entries
  • launisch adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • mürrisch adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • zänkisch adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • übellaunig adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Greek

1 entries
  • κακότροπος adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Irish

2 entries
  • agóideach adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • anglánta adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Italian

4 entries
  • bisbetico adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • collerico adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • intrattabile adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • irascibile adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Latin

1 entries
  • ācriculus adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Māori

3 entries
  • nihoniho adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • pukukino adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • āritarita adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Norwegian Bokmål

1 entries
  • gretten adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Polish

2 entries
  • kłótliwy adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • swarliwy adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Portuguese

3 entries
  • irritadiço adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • mal-humorado adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • ranzinza adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Romanian

3 entries
  • iritabil adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • supărăcios adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • susceptibil adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Russian

1 entries
  • сварли́вый adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Spanish

4 entries
  • arisco adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • cascarrabias adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • enojadizo adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • intratable adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Swedish

4 entries
  • gnällig adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • grinig adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • grälsjuk adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • knarrig adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Turkish

3 entries
  • aksi adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • geçimsiz adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)
  • huysuz adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Ukrainian

1 entries
  • сварливий adj (ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby)

Sample sentences

12 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

Tom is cantankerous.

Source: tatoeba (2202637)

You're cantankerous.

Source: tatoeba (2202638)

He is a violent, dangerous, cantankerous character, hated by everyone who comes across him.

Source: tatoeba (6622781)

Tom isn't as cantankerous as he used to be.

Source: tatoeba (7130195)

Showing 4 of 12 available sentences.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.