adj. 1. Marked by a disposition to find and point out trivial faults: a captious scholar. 2. Intended to entrap or confuse, as in an argument: a captious question. [Middle English capcious, from Old French captieux, from Latin captiōsus, from captiō, seizure, sophism, from captus, past participle of capere, to seize; see kap- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] captious·ly adv. captious·ness n. |
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