captious
    adj 1: tending to find and call attention to faults; "a captious
           pedant"; "an excessively demanding and faultfinding
           tutor" [syn: captious, faultfinding]

Captious \Cap"tious\, a. [F. captieux, L. captiosus. See
   Caption.]
   1. Apt to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to
      cavil; eager to object; difficult to please.
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            A captious and suspicious age.        --Stillingfleet.
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            I am sensible I have not disposed my materials to
            abide the test of a captious controversy. --Bwike.
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   2. Fitted to harass, perplex, or insnare; insidious;
      troublesome.
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            Captious restraints on navigation.    --Bancroft.

   Syn: Caviling, carping, fault-finding; censorious;
        hypercritical; peevish, fretful; perverse; troublesome.

   Usage: Captious, caviling, Carping. A captious person
          is one who has a fault-finding habit or manner, or is
          disposed to catch at faults, errors, etc., with
          quarrelsome intent; a caviling person is disposed to
          raise objections on frivolous grounds; carping implies
          that one is given to ill-natured, persistent, or
          unreasonable fault-finding, or picking up of the words
          or actions of others.
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                Caviling is the carping of argument, carping the
                caviling of ill temper.           --C. J. Smith.
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