Contentious: meaning, example and synonyms
Contentiousadj. Causing or likely to cause heated disagreement; controversial.
Example
The plan to reroute the canal proved so contentious that the town council deadlocked for months, each faction commissioning its own surveys.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- controversial, disputed, divisive, debatable
- Antonyms
- uncontroversial, undisputed, harmonious, agreed
- Memory tip
- Contentious issues spark contention, or arguments.
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Check yourself: Contentious in context
The question of who should pay for the new dam was so ______ that the regional meeting dissolved into shouting before any vote could be taken.
Answer: contentious. A question that ends in shouting causes heated disagreement: contentious. Inconspicuous (unnoticed), immutable (unchanging) and unrivaled (unmatched) don't explain the shouting.
Among historians, the causes of the empire's decline remain ______, with scholars sharply divided over the roles of climate, disease, and political corruption.
Answer: contentious. Sharp division among scholars marks a contentious question. Inconspicuous (unnoticed), unrivaled (unmatched) and obtrusive (intrusively noticeable) don't describe a disputed topic.