† cavillousadj.
Obsolete.
Full of cavils or cavilling; (of persons) apt to cavil.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > [adjective] > captiously
captiousc1380
pick-fault1544
fastidious?1555
sharp-nosed1561
cavillous?1571
carpacious1574
cavillinga1576
find-fault1576
Zoilous1577
carpinga1586
exceptious1602
quarrellous1610
exceptive1623
Zoilitical1665
nibbling1691
pickthanking1830
Zoilean1846
snippy1848
nitpicking1948
nitpicky1962
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > excessive subtlety, hair-splitting > frivolous, captious objection > [adjective]
captious1447
hafting1519
brabbling1549
cavillous?1571
cavillinga1576
caffling1591
cavilsome1611
cavillatory1641
?1571 tr. G. Buchanan Detectioun Marie Quene of Scottes sig. Hiijv Though we wald schyft it of by cauillous expounding.
1577 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Chron. 330 Bassian was..also more cauillous and troublesome.
1644 K. Digby Two Treat. ii. viii. 415 Cauillous scrupules, and wilde doubts.
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 56 Cavillous and unfaithful Advocates, by whose Fraud and Iniquity, Justice is destroy'd.
1851 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy in 1848 354 The war-ministry were lukewarm, cavillous, impracticable.
Derivatives
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > [adverb] > captiously
captiously1539
cavillously1561
cavillingly1570
carpingly1577
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > excessive subtlety, hair-splitting > frivolous, captious objection > [adverb]
captiously1539
cavillously1561
cavillingly1570
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. (1634) i. xiii. 59 Falsly and cavillously they ascribe unto us a device of their owne braine.
1649 J. Milton Observations in Articles of Peace with Irish Rebels 48 By the Covenant it self, since that so cavillously is urg'd against us.
cavillousness n.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1561