Word of the Day

Friday December 25, 2009

captious [KAP-shuhs]

adjective

Disposed to find fault; eager to raise objections.
Calculated to harass, confuse, or ensnare.

And that's why the passing of Kirkus deserves to be mourned. Sure, it was a captious beast. Sure, its reviews sat on many authors' Amazon pages like indelible stains. But unlike the bedlam of the customer opinions that can pile up on those pages like graffiti on a bathroom wall, Kirkus' reviews were real.

Meghan Daum, "Kirkus Reviews R.I.P.: At least those critics had some cred", Los Angeles Times, Dec 17, 2009
Haworth itself straddles bygone and modern times. Though there are a couple of old-style confectioners, and some period shop frontages, it has a clutch of good second-hand bookshops, a splendid cheesemonger and a pie shop to tempt the most captious palate. Those wishing to eat in style can choose between a handful of vibrant contemporary restaurants or the more traditional Yorkshire fare on offer in the village's abundant, cheery pubs.

Rosemary Goring, "The sisters of murky The Brontes' home town used to be a cesspit - but it scrubs up well", The Herald, Mar 14, 2009
It will be seen that I adopt, in my Third and Fourth Lectures, that scheme of reconciliation between the Geologic and Mosaic Records which accepts the six days of creation as vastly extended periods; and I have been reminded by a somewhat captious critic that I once held a very different view, and twitted with what he terms inconsistency.

Hugh Miller (1802 - 1856) A Scottish geologist, writer and folklorist. Testimony of the Rocks (1857)

Origin of the Word

Captious, approximately 1408, derives from Middle French captieux, from L.atin captiosus, from captio "a deceiving, fallacious argument, from capere "to take, catch."