captious
/ˈkæpʃəs/
"captious" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“captious” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - That captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading arguments; sophistical.
Corpus desk
Index EN-captious · captious · English
captious · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | captious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkæpʃəs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “captious” in English
Rare enough to double-check
captious is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkæpʃəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
captious doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English capcious, from Middle French captieux, or its source, Latin captiōsus, from captiō. The correct English form is captious, spelled C-A-P-T-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1That captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading arguments; sophistical.
- 2Having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections; cavilling, nitpicky.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how captious appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…]I know I loue in vaine, ſtriue againſt hope : Yet in this captious, and intemible Siue I ſtill poure in the waters of my loue And lacke not to looſe ſtill[…]
A captious queſtion, Sir, and your’s is one, Deſerves an anſwer ſimilar, or none.
Etymology
From Middle English capcious, from Middle French captieux, or its source, Latin captiōsus, from captiō.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.