different between cranky vs fractiousness

English

Etymology

From crank +? -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?æ?ki/
• Rhymes: -æ?ki

Adjective

cranky (comparative crankier, superlative crankiest)

1. (obsolete) Weak, unwell.
2. (of a machine, etc.) Not in good working condition.

   Synonym: shaky

   • 1914, Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, The River of Doubt,

     We had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. The other three were good.

3. Grouchy, grumpy, irritable; easily upset.

4. Not in perfect mental working order; eccentric, peculiar.
   • 1934 December, Robert E. Howard, The Road to Bear Creek, in Action Stories,

     Uncle Esau is as cranky as hell, and a peculiar old duck, but I think he'll like a fine upstanding young man as big as you be.

5. (archaic) Full of spirit; spirited.
6. Synonym of crank (“of a ship: liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast”)

   a cranky vessel

Translations

English

Etymology

fractious +? -ness

Noun

fractiousness (uncountable)

1. The quality of being fractious; trouble-making; unruliness.

   • His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed.

2. A peevish or cranky nature.

Related terms

• fractiously