restive

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: res=tive

CIDE DICTIONARY

restive, a. [OF. restif, F. rétif, fr. L. restare to stay back, withstand, resist. See Rest remainder, and cf. Restiff.].

•  Unwilling to go on; obstinate in refusing to move forward; stubborn; drawing back.  [1913 Webster]

  "Restive or resty, drawing back, instead of going forward, as some horses do."  [1913 Webster]

  "The people remarked with awe and wonder that the beasts which were to drag him [Abraham Holmes] to the gallows became restive, and went back."  [1913 Webster]
•  Inactive; sluggish.  Sir T. Browne.  [1913 Webster]
•  Impatient under coercion, chastisement, or opposition; refractory.  [1913 Webster]
•  Uneasy; restless; averse to standing still; fidgeting about; -- applied especially to horses.  Trench.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

restive, adj.
1 fidgety; restless.
2 (of a horse) refusing to advance, stubbornly standing still or moving backwards or sideways; jibbing; refractory.
3 (of a person) unmanageable; rejecting control.

Derivative

restively adv. restiveness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF restif -ive f. Rmc (as REST(2))

THESAURUS

restive

antsy, antsy-pantsy, anxious, apathetic, backward, balking, balky, beefing, bellyaching, beyond control, bigoted, bitching, breachy, breathless, bulldogged, bulletheaded, bullheaded, case-hardened, chafing, complaining, complaintful, contumacious, crabbing, crabby, cranky, croaking, cross-grained, defiant, dilatory, disappointed, discontented, disgruntled, displeased, dissatisfied, dogged, dogmatic, eager, edgy, envious, excited, fanatic, faultfinding, fidgety, fluttery, fractious, fretful, fretting, froward, fussy, griping, grouchy, grousing, growling, grudging, grumbling, hardheaded, hasty, headstrong, hopped-up, impatient, impatient of control, impetuous, in a lather, in a stew, in a sweat, incorrigible, indifferent, indocile, indomitable, insuppressible, intolerant, intractable, irrepressible, laggard, loath, malcontent, malcontented, mulish, murmuring, muttering, nervy, obstinate, obstreperous, on edge, opinionated, ornery, out of hand, out of humor, overzealous, peevish, perfunctory, persevering, pertinacious, perverse, petulant, pigheaded, querulant, querulous, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, reluctant, renitent, resentful, resistant, resisting, restless, self-willed, set, shrewish, slow, slow to, squirming, squirmy, stiff-necked, strong-willed, strongheaded, stubborn, sulky, sullen, tenacious, tense, unaccepting, unaccommodating, unbiddable, uncontrollable, uncooperative, uneasy, unenthusiastic, unfulfilled, ungovernable, ungratified, unhappy, unmalleable, unmanageable, unmoldable, unpatient, unquiet, unregenerate, unrestful, unruly, unsatisfied, unsettled, unsubmissive, unzealous, uptight, wayward, whiny, wild, willful, wrongheaded

ROGET THESAURUS

restive

Unwillingness

N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.

Obstinacy

N obstinacy, obstinateness, obstinacy, tenacity, cussedness, perseverance, immovability, old school, inflexibility, obduracy, obduration, dogged resolution, resolution, ruling passion, blind side, self-will, contumacy, perversity, pervicacy, pervicacity, indocility, bigotry, intolerance, dogmatism, opiniatry, opiniativeness, fixed idea, fanaticism, zealotry, infatuation, monomania, opinionatedness opinionativeness, mule, opinionist, opinionatist, opiniator, opinator, stickler, dogmatist, bigot, zealot, enthusiast, fanatic, obstinate, tenacious, stubborn, obdurate, casehardened, inflexible, balky, immovable, unshakable, not to be moved, inert, unchangeable, inexorable, mulish, obstinate as a mule, pig-headed, dogged, sullen, sulky, unmoved, uninfluenced unaffected, willful, self-willed, perverse, resty, restive, restiff, pervicacious, wayward, refractory, unruly, heady, headstrong, entete, contumacious, crossgrained, arbitrary, dogmatic, positive, bigoted, prejudiced, creed- bound, prepossessed, infatuated, stiff-backed, stiff necked, stiff hearted, hard-mouthed, hidebound, unyielding, impervious, impracticable, inpersuasible, unpersuadable, intractable, untractable, incorrigible, deaf to advice, impervious to reason, crotchety, obstinately, non possumus, no surrender, ils n'ont rien appris ne rien oublie.

Disobedience

N disobedience, insubordination, contumacy, infraction, infringement, violation, noncompliance, nonobservance, revolt, rebellion, mutiny, outbreak, rising, uprising, insurrection, emeute, riot, tumult, strike, barring out, defiance, mutinousness, mutineering, sedition, treason, high treason, petty treason, misprision of treason, premunire, lese majeste, violation of law, defection, secession, insurgent, mutineer, rebel, revolter, revolutionary, rioter, traitor, quisling, carbonaro, sansculottes, red republican, bonnet rouge, communist, Fenian, frondeur, seceder, secessionist, runagate, renegade, brawler, anarchist, demagogue, Spartacus, Masaniello, Wat Tyler, Jack Cade, ringleader, disobedient, uncomplying, uncompliant, unsubmissive, unruly, ungovernable, breachy, insubordinate, impatient of control, incorrigible, restiff, restive, refractory, contumacious, recusant, recalcitrant, resisting, lawless, mutinous, seditions, insurgent, riotous, unobeyed, unbidden, seditiosissimus quisque ignavus, unthread the rude eye of rebellion.

Refusal

N refusal, rejection, noncompliance, incompliance, denial, declining, declension, declinature, peremptory refusal, flat refusal, point blank refusal, repulse, rebuff, discountenance, recusancy, abnegation, protest, disclaimer, dissent, revocation, refusing, restive, restiff, recusant, uncomplying, unconsenting, not willing to hear of, deaf to, refused, ungranted, out of the question, not to be thought of, impossible, no, on no account, not for the world, no thank you, thanks but no thanks, non possumus, your humble servant, bien oblige, not on your life, no way, not even if you beg on your knees.

Sullenness

N sullenness, morosity, spleen, churlishness, irascibility, moodiness, perversity, obstinacy, torvity, spinosity, crabbedness, ill temper, bad temper, ill humor, bad humor, sulks, dudgeon, mumps, dumps, doldrums, fit of the sulks, bouderie, black looks, scowl, grouch, huff, sullen, sulky, ill-tempered, ill-humored, ill-affected, ill- disposed, grouty, in an ill temper, in a bad temper, in a shocking temper, in an ill humor, in a bad humor, in a shocking humor, out of temper, out of humor, knaggy, torvous, crusty, crabbed, sour, sour as a crab, surly, moody, spleenish, spleenly, splenetic, cankered, cross, crossgrained, perverse, wayward, humorsome, restiff, restive, cantankerous, intractable, exceptious, sinistrous, deaf to reason, unaccommodating, rusty, froward, cussed, dogged, grumpy, glum, grim, grum, morose, frumpish, in the sulks, out of sorts, scowling, glowering, growling, grouchy, peevish.