Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Fractious \Frac"tious\, a. [Cf. Prov. E. frack forward, eager,
   E. freak, fridge; or Prov. E. fratch to squabble, quarrel.]
   Apt to break out into a passion; apt to scold; cross;
   snappish; ugly; unruly; as, a fractious man; a fractious
   horse.

   Syn: Snappish; peevish; waspish; cross; irritable; perverse;
        pettish. -- {Frac"tious*ly}, v. -- {Frac"tious*ness}, n.

Source : WordNet®

fractious
     adj 1: stubbornly resistant to authority or control; "a fractious
            animal that would not submit to the harness"; "a
            refractory child" [syn: {refractory}]
     2: easily irritated or annoyed; "an incorrigibly fractious
        young man"; "not the least nettlesome of his countrymen"
        [syn: {cranky}, {irritable}, {nettlesome}, {peevish}, {peckish},
         {pettish}, {petulant}, {testy}, {tetchy}, {techy}]
     3: unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be
        troublesome; "rockets were much too fractious to be tested
        near thigkly populated areas"; "fractious components of a
        communication system"