[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being contentious; disposition to contention; quarrelsomeness.
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk (Camden), 16. [He] began in deed to lai contentiusnes to mi charg.
1661. Boyle, Spring of Air, Pref. (1632), 1. They that know how indisposed I naturally am to Contentiousness.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), I. 217. Any circumstance which disposes the people to contentiousness and jealousy.
1876. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., I. 246. The contentiousness of human nature.
