Definition of "rebarbative" []

• Tending to irritate; repellent: "He became rebarbative, prickly, spiteful” ( Robert Craft). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He claims that in his crime fiction he tones down his trademark use of obscure words, but he slips "rebarbative" into the essay."
• "Art Resource, NY Sixth-century mosaic of the Nile River with a crocodile, a duck and lotus flowers So why has this remarkable empire for so long been perceived as abhorrent and rebarbative, when not being dismissed?"
• "It is puzzling and rebarbative, but once you get into its mindset, then it can have a curious grip on the imagination."