cantankerous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ian McKellen plays a cantankerous painter, Michael Jackson’s electrifying talent comes through in a new biopic, Albert Camus’s ‘The Stranger’ gets an elegant adaptation, and much, much more.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
More character actor than leading man, he could be relied upon to inject a feisty, fiery machismo and a cantankerous contrariness into the most mainstream Hollywood offering.
From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026
In “Greenberg,” Ben Stiller’s title character is a cantankerous and neurotic New Yorker who has fled west after a nervous breakdown.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025
The pair takes the cold case team starring in Jussi Adler-Olsen’s series of novels and transports them to Edinburgh, casting the cantankerous Carl as an English outsider among Scots.
From Salon • Jun. 28, 2025
Maybe Daryl and Keith were given the balaclavas, and my mate from last night was given his black outfit and his cantankerous demeanor.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
Vocabulary lists containing cantankerous
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Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Grade 10, List 5
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