RESTIVE

restive

(adjective) impatient especially under restriction or delay; “the government has done nothing to ease restrictions and manufacturers are growing restive”

edgy, high-strung, highly strung, jittery, jumpy, nervy, overstrung, restive, uptight

(adjective) being in a tense state

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

restive (comparative more restive, superlative most restive)

Impatient under delay, duress, or control.

Resistant to control; stubborn.

Refusing to move, especially in a forward direction.

Synonyms

• (impatient under duress): anxious, champing at the bit, fidgety, restless, uneasy

• (resistant of control): disobedient, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, uncooperative, unruly

• (refusing to move): balky

Anagrams

• Ivester, Servite, Sievert, sievert, tervies, veriest

Source: Wiktionary

Rest"ive (rst"v), a. Etym: [OF. restif, F. rétif, fr. L. restare to stay back, withstand, resist. See Rest remainder, and cf. Restiff.] .

Definition: Unwilling to go on; obstinate in refusing to move forward; stubborn; drawing back. Restive or resty, drawing back, instead of going forward, as some horses do. E. Philips (1658). 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.

2. Inactive; sluggish. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

3. Impatient under coercion, chastisement, or opposition; refractory.

4. Uneasy; restless; averse to standing still; fidgeting about; -- applied especially to horses. Trench.

– Rest"ive, adv.

– Rest"ive*ness, n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition