restive

restive
    adj 1: being in a tense state [syn: {edgy}, {high-strung},
           {highly strung}, {jittery}, {jumpy}, {nervy},
           {overstrung}, {restive}, {uptight}]
    2: impatient especially under restriction or delay; "the
       government has done nothing to ease restrictions and
       manufacturers are growing restive"
    

Restive \Rest"ive\ (r?st"?v), a. [OF. restif, F. r['e]tif, fr.
   L. restare to stay back, withstand, resist. See {Rest}
   remainder, and cf. {Restiff}.] .
   Unwilling to go on; obstinate in refusing to move forward;
   stubborn; drawing back.
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         Restive or resty, drawing back, instead of going
         forward, as some horses do.              --E. Philips
                                                  (1658).
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         The people remarked with awe and wonder that the beasts
         which were to drag him [Abraham Holmes] to the gallows
         became restive, and went back.           --Macaulay.
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   2. Inactive; sluggish. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.
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   3. Impatient under coercion, chastisement, or opposition;
      refractory.
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   4. Uneasy; restless; averse to standing still; fidgeting
      about; -- applied especially to horses. --Trench.
      [1913 Webster] -- {Rest"ive}, adv. -- {Rest"ive*ness}, n.
      [1913 Webster]
    

151 Moby Thesaurus words for "restive":
      antsy, antsy-pantsy, anxious, apathetic, backward, balking, balky,
      beefing, bellyaching, beyond control, bigoted, bitching, breachy,
      breathless, bulldogged, bulletheaded, bullheaded, case-hardened,
      chafing, complaining, complaintful, contumacious, crabbing, crabby,
      cranky, croaking, cross-grained, defiant, dilatory, disappointed,
      discontented, disgruntled, displeased, dissatisfied, dogged,
      dogmatic, eager, edgy, envious, excited, fanatic, faultfinding,
      fidgety, fluttery, fractious, fretful, fretting, froward, fussy,
      griping, grouchy, grousing, growling, grudging, grumbling,
      hardheaded, hasty, headstrong, hopped-up, impatient,
      impatient of control, impetuous, in a lather, in a stew,
      in a sweat, incorrigible, indifferent, indocile, indomitable,
      insuppressible, intolerant, intractable, irrepressible, laggard,
      loath, malcontent, malcontented, mulish, murmuring, muttering,
      nervy, obstinate, obstreperous, on edge, opinionated, ornery,
      out of hand, out of humor, overzealous, peevish, perfunctory,
      persevering, pertinacious, perverse, petulant, pigheaded,
      querulant, querulous, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory,
      reluctant, renitent, resentful, resistant, resisting, restless,
      self-willed, set, shrewish, slow, slow to, squirming, squirmy,
      stiff-necked, strong-willed, strongheaded, stubborn, sulky, sullen,
      tenacious, tense, unaccepting, unaccommodating, unbiddable,
      uncontrollable, uncooperative, uneasy, unenthusiastic, unfulfilled,
      ungovernable, ungratified, unhappy, unmalleable, unmanageable,
      unmoldable, unpatient, unquiet, unregenerate, unrestful, unruly,
      unsatisfied, unsettled, unsubmissive, unzealous, uptight, wayward,
      whiny, wild, willful, wrongheaded