From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Fractious \Frac"tious\, a. [Cf. Prov. E. frack forward, eager,
E. freak, fridge; or Prov. E. fratch to squabble, quarrel.]
Apt to break out into a passion; apt to scold; cross;
snappish; ugly; unruly; as, a fractious man; a fractious
horse.
Syn: Snappish; peevish; waspish; cross; irritable; perverse;
pettish. -- {Frac"tious*ly}, v. -- {Frac"tious*ness}, n.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
fractious
adj 1: stubbornly resistant to authority or control; "a
fractious animal that would not submit to the harness";
"a refractory child" [syn: {fractious}, {refractory},
{recalcitrant}]
2: easily irritated or annoyed; "an incorrigibly fractious young
man"; "not the least nettlesome of his countrymen" [syn:
{cranky}, {fractious}, {irritable}, {nettlesome}, {peevish},
{peckish}, {pettish}, {petulant}, {scratchy}, {testy},
{tetchy}, {techy}]
3: unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be
troublesome; "rockets were much too fractious to be tested
near thickly populated areas"; "fractious components of a
communication system"
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