Adjective

(en adjective)

of or pertaining to a serf, peasant, or rustic

* 1996 , Jeet Heer, Gravitas , Autumn 1996

[...] the eloquence and truth of his tribute stands in marked contrast to Kramer's churlish caricature of Kael as a happy pig wallowing in the dirt.

rude, surly, ungracious

stingy or grudging

(of soil) difficult to till, lacking pliancy; unmanageable

*1730–1774 , Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland

*:Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansion tread,t

*:And force a churlish soil for scanty bread.

Adjective

(en adjective)

given to or marked by an ill-tempered nature, ill-tempered, cranky, surly, crabby.

* 1839 , Fraser's magazine for town and country, Volume 20, p618

she is a cantankerous old maid fretting and snarling over the loss of her beauty.

* 1866 Every Saturday, Volume 2, p355

The great principle on which the privileges of cantankerous folly and ill-nature found is this: that as we go on through life we grow somewhat cowardly; and if a thing be disagreeable, we just keep out of its way: sometimes by rather shabby expedients.

* 1947 , John Courtenay Trewin, Plays of the year: Volume 47, 195

I am being cantankerous'''. Some days I feel so '''cantankerous I could take a machine-gun into the streets and shoot down the whole population of Hendon Central; I don't know why.

* 1998 , Pauline Chazan, The moral self, 80

By contrast, cantankerous and churlish people are contemptuously independent of others’ opinions, not caring enough about others and their views.

* 2004 , 386 F. 3d 192 - Jacques v. Dimarzio Inc

The cantankerous are those "marked by ill humor, irritability, and determination to disagree." Webster's New International Dictionary 328 (3d ed.1986).

* 2004 , 386 F. 3d 192 - Jacques v. Dimarzio Inc

All things being equal, a cantankerous person or a curmudgeon would be more secure by becoming more unpleasant.

* 2007 , Linda Francis Lee, The Devil in the Junior League, p44

Nina was thrilled, muttering her cantankerous joy that I was getting out of the house.

* from where is this quotation?

The cantankerous landlord always grumbled when asked to fix something.

* 2010 ,

Unfortunately, as Great-Aunt Bert could be a bit cantankerous , they were having to be creative

Note: Cantankerous is generally used to describe an unpleasant elderly person in a slightly pejorative manner. However, the term can be used to people in general, livestock, and machinery as well.