Revised as of
17 Nov 2022
When it comes to facetious vs factious vs fractious, I suspect these word confusions are a combination of forgetting a letter and not really understanding how each word is different.
And no, I’m not being facetious this time . . .
In fact, I’m feeling downright fractious about writers who can’t be bothered to check the dictionary. Computers make fact-checking so easy. I use ’em all the time. Yeah, so I’m an editor?? So what? No one is above checking for an accurate definition.
And yes, writers are a factious faction, too many of whom believe that their computer’s spellcheck will catch any errors. Hah!!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Facetious | Factious | Fractious |
|---|---|---|
Bullying Despair Results in Suicide is under the CC0 license, via Max Pixel, <https://www.maxpixel.net/Bully-Suicide-Depressed-Bullying-Despair-831491>. — The brutally facetious attitude of schools regarding bullying is killing our kids. |
Angry Donald Trump Face is under the CC0 license, via GoodFreePhotos.com. — Talk about factious . . .! |
Siamese Cat vs Red Mackerel Tabby by rihaij is under the CC0 license, via Needpix.com. — A couple of fractious kitties. |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Adjective | Adjective | Adjective |
Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor
Characterized by levity of attitude and love of joking Not meant to be taken seriously or literally |
Relating or inclined to dissension
Pertaining to or proceeding from a small organized dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics |
Apt to quarrel
[Typically of children] Irritable and quarrelsome
|
| Examples: | ||
| You learn very soon never to tell a joke or make a facetious remark.
Forgive me for being facetious in these desperately serious times, but sometimes ridicule is the only release from anger. I hope this approach doesn’t come across as facetious or flippant, I’m genuinely interested. This is a very sad event, and it would be wise to avoid facetious remarks about aggrieved clients and — more particularly — would-be clients. But snobbishness is, in its way, a serious subject, and another, less facetious book could easily be written about it. It’s a facetious point, but it’s also a serious one. That’s me all right . . . always with the facetious remarks. |
He felt the Congress might be inclined to factious disputes and intrigues, but he also opposed giving unchecked power to a president.
But gender issues are political issues and, without a set of established principles to guide much of our social transitions, gender politics are like all politics — messy and factious. As Mark E. Neely, Jr, has suggested, party competition in the midst of the Civil War was deeply factious, leading some politicians to think only of electoral victory in the short term. Royal authority had been brought to a low ebb by Mary, and during James’s minority the factious nobility lived in a state of civil war. These must be chiefly, if not wholly, effects of the unsteadiness and injustice with which a factious spirit has tainted our public administrations. |
They fight and squabble like fractious children.
They’re a fractious coalition of Social Democrats, who refuse to adhere to the party line. Hobie was a fractious one who would not submit to the harness. He was such an incorrigibly fractious young man. The youngest children get fractious and older family members get irritable trying to keep the peace. People with pain can be fractious and difficult, and elderly people may not be paragons of charm and cheerfulness. The management is difficult, the people get pretty fractious, and it starts feeling like the early years when one is in Opposition. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adverb: facetiously Noun: facetiousness |
Adjective: nonfactious Adverb: factiously, nonfactiously Noun: factiousness |
Adverb: fractiously Noun: fractiousness |
| History of the Word: | ||
| Late 16th century, in the general sense of witty, amusing, from the French facétieux, from facétie, which is from the Latin facetia meaning jest, from facetus meaning witty. | Mid-16th century, from the French factieux or the Latin factiosus, from factio meaning a small organized dissenting group within a larger group. | Too many sites, included the following, even though it makes no sense time-wise.
C.1500 + -ous; probably on the model of captious. 1725, from fraction in an obsolete sense of a brawling, discord. Late 17th century, from fraction, probably on the pattern of the pair faction, factious. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Facetious vs Factious vs Fractious
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: facetious, factious, fractious
Lexico.com: facetious, factious, fractious
Moritz-Rabson, Daniel. “Trump’s Golfing has Cost Taxpayers $102 million, Just $12.7 million behind Obama’s Travel During Entire Presidency.” Newsweek. 22 May 2019 Web. n.d. <https://www.newsweek.com/trump-golf-102-million-report-1432550>. Article.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
President Trump and Prime Minister Abe Golfing by Shealah Craighead is in the public domain, via Flickr and courtesy of the White House.
