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captious (KAP-shuhs) - adj., having a disposition to find and point out trivial faults and raise piddling objections; intended to entrap or confuse, as in an argument.
The second sense is the original one, something designed to capture -- in the original Latin captiōsus, no less. The sort of person who deploys captious arguments, however, tends to other annoying traits and the main sense has shifted over time. The base root, btw, is Latin carpe, seize, as in what to do with the diem.
---L.
The second sense is the original one, something designed to capture -- in the original Latin captiōsus, no less. The sort of person who deploys captious arguments, however, tends to other annoying traits and the main sense has shifted over time. The base root, btw, is Latin carpe, seize, as in what to do with the diem.
---L.
