Pronunciation: [ 'kæp-shês]
Definition: (1) Not merely deceptive but designed to (mis)lead you to the wrong conclusion, e.g. a sign, argument, or advertisement; sophistical. (2) Having an ill-natured inclination to find faults and raise objections; caviling, carping.
Usage: "Have you stopped beating your husband?" is a captious question in the first sense of the word. That sense also brings to mind advertisements like, "Super Eldopé Extra with BMX-43 helps stop tough headache pain according to studies by a respected east coast research institution." This ad is designed to make you think Eldopé is a wonder drug for stopping headaches. But "BMX-43" could be evaporated water and the studies could have been conducted in the company's own laboratories (not Harvard). People who are captious in the second sense could even find fault with the Word of the Day. We hope none of these ever cross your (or our) path.
Suggested Usage: Captious is a well-behaved adjective that belongs to a small family: "captiously" is the adverb and "captiousness" is the noun.
Etymology: From Old French captieux, from Latin captisus, the adjective from captio "seizure, sophism," the noun of capere "to seize." Related words from Latin include "capture" and "captain." The English word "catch" comes from Old North French cachier "to chase" from the same Latin word. The original root, *kap, came down to English as "have" (from Old English "habban"; cf. German "haben") and "heavy" (from Old English "hefig"). In German it became Haft "arrest" but also the suffix –haft "like, having," as in lebhaft "lively, spirited" from leb-en "live" + -haft.
captious \KAP-shuhs\, adjective:
1. Marked by a disposition to find fault or raise objections.
2. Calculated to entrap or confuse, as in an argument.
The most common among those are captious individuals who can find nothing wrong with their own actions but everything wrong with the actions of everybody else.-- "In-Closet Hypocrites", Atlanta Inquirer, August 15, 1998
Mr Bowman had, I think, been keeping Christmas Eve, and was a little inclined to be captious: at least, he was not on foot very early, and to judge from what I could hear, neither men nor maids could do anything to please him.-- M. R. James, The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Stories
Most authors would prefer readers such as Roiphe over captious academic critics.-- Steven Moore, "Old Flames", Washington Post, November 26, 2000
With the imperturbablest bland clearness, he, for five hours long, keeps answering the incessant volley of fiery captious questions.-- Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution
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