Dick Cavett

When I was a kid in Nebraska, a cantankerous farmer, known for plinking with his '22 at passing cars in which he perceived enemies, ingeniously rigged up a shotgun in his house, trained on the inside of his front door so as to widely distribute any intruder.

American Entertainer

Seth Shostak

Even if the Moon didn't exist - even if it had been vaporized billions of years ago by cantankerous Klingons - there would still be (somewhat lower) tides raised by the Sun. For creatures dependent on the oceans' ebb and flow, life could go on.

American Scientist

Kathy Burke

I'm quite a cantankerous soul. People have this impression that I have a happy disposition. But I'm dark and cynical underneath.

English Actress

Charlie Baker

Politics and public life are not for the faint of heart. It has been and always will be a noisy and cantankerous place.

American Politician

Alexandra Petri

As long as cantankerous old people have existed, they have complained that kids nowadays don't seem to know anything.

American Journalist

Ariel Pink

I get to live down my reputation for being cantankerous if I slowly evolve towards being a really good live show.

American Musician

Zhuangzi

Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous.

Chinese Philosopher

Peter Hook

Old men are cantankerous: they like to get their own way.

English Musician

Dick Van Dyke

American Actor

John Witherspoon

Cantankerous implies strong disapproval and shouldn't be used flippantly.

Negative Connotation

Use it to describe behavior or personality, not physical objects.

Non-Physical Context

Though not slang, 'cantankerous' suits casual or literary speech more than formal writing.

Typically Informal

 and up until last year, we were all still living, a bunch of old biddies, but we're still here. And sometimes we can be just cantankerous and blah blah blah blah blah, but we still go. And I love to see women.

An interview with the...

 I get is how adorable chinstrap penguins are but every time you get near them the very first thing that they do is projectile poop they're cantankerous they tend to be very aggressive and just