captious Play ˈkapʃəsadjectivetending to find fault or raise petty objections.a captious teachercritical,fault-finding,quibbling,niggling,cavilling,carping,criticizing,disapproving,censorious,judgemental,overcritical,hypercritical,pedantic,hair-splitting,pettifogging,pass-remarkable,nitpicking,pernickety,persnickety SYNONYMS carpingcavillingcensoriouscriticalcriticizingdisapprovingfault-findinghair-splittinghypercriticaljudgementalnigglingnitpickingovercriticalpass-remarkablepedanticpernicketypersnicketypettifoggingquibbling