Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Given to, characterized by, or promoting internal dissension. synonym: insubordinate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Given to faction; dissentious; promoting partizan views or aims by perverse or irregular means; turbulent.
- Pertaining to or proceeding from faction; of a turbulent partizan character.
- Active; urgent; zealous.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government or the common good; turbulent; seditious; prone to clamor against public measures or men; -- said of persons.
- adjective Pertaining to faction; proceeding from faction; indicating, or characterized by, faction; -- said of acts or expressions.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of, pertaining to, or caused by
factions . - adjective Given to or characterized by
discordance orinsubordination .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective dissenting (especially dissenting with the majority opinion)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Van Buren's opposition to the Adams administration has been called factious and unpatriotic.
A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 DeAlva Stanwood Alexander
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A week later the papers published letters of Dumouriez which showed that ever since the trial of the King the Girondin general had been factious, that is, had been as much inclined to turn his arms against Paris as against the Austrians.
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For disgrace; he tells them, they would fare but ill as to their reputations, but yet no worse than himself: they might be called factious, seditious; but when the master is called devil, the servant may well endure the name of rascal.
Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions. Vol. V. 1634-1716 1823
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They are loaded with invectives — they are called factious, seditious; as Elijah, the troubler of Israel; and
The Lord's Prayer 1692
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There were one or two measures introduced into the Assembly during the session just closed worth mentioning, _en passant_; as showing the progress really made by a "factious" Assembly.
The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Volume 1 Charles Roger
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Burke, in an evil moment for himself and for Ireland, had lent himself in 1785 to what Mr. Morley called the "factious" and
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In proofreading I struck out "factious;" as needless, and as a generalization on insufficient premises.
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At the dead of night we were aroused from our sleep by a cry that the 'factious' were not far off.
Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society George Henry Borrow 1842
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Terror now reigns in Rome; the prisons are choked with men who have been arrested and detained without trial; fifty priests are confined in the castle of St. Angelo, whose only crime consists in their having lent their services in our hospitals; the citizens, the best known for their moderation, are exiled; the army is almost entirely dissolved, the city disarmed, and the "factious" sent away even to the last man; and yet France dares not consult in legal manner the will of the populations, but re-establishes the papal authority by military decree.
The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 Various
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(except Kentucky and Missouri,) have never been even charged with this kind of factious commotion.
kingparton commented on the word factious
To be a bishop, a man must be learned in a learned age, factious in a factious age; but always of eminence.
James Boswell, Life of Johnson
July 26, 2011