5

What do you call a person that dislikes it and takes it personally and becomes angry and frustrated whenever you disagree with them or present a logical argument contradicting what they are saying?

One such person thought it was a matter of being opinionated, but actually one could have very strong opinions but not care less if someone else felt or thought differently, so that is not the correct word (and of course I cannot even tell them that or they will get angry and shout at me).

Improve this question
4
  • Are you looking for something like thin-skinned? You will find many synonyms at the link.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented May 7, 2016 at 17:02
  • No, that means easily offended, but what I'm after is a word describing a particular type of intolerance rather than an offence. An intolerance to disagreement and counterarguments.
    – Jack Maddington
    Commented May 7, 2016 at 17:07
  • I was almost gonna choose the word "disagreeable" but I'm not sure I like the word when the person is easily angered our annoyed has to do with the fact that the disagreement itself came up (and the person couldn't take it).
    – Jack Maddington
    Commented May 7, 2016 at 17:39
  • 2
    Seems to me like you're looking for one word that crosses two semantic domains, combining intellectual close-mindedness and behavioral defensiveness. You're probably going to have to find something referring to a paradigmatic exemplar.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented May 7, 2016 at 17:40

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
3

Based on the description, intolerant comes to mind. However, you asked for a special word that especifically bears getting angry while discussing or hearing others' opinion. I cannot think of a single word but probably aggressively intolerant/biggoted can work here.

There are some words that can imply aggressiveness or being dangerous sometimes like fanatic as a noun or fanatical as an adjective.

Improve this answer
3

One word that came to mind was truculent : tending to argue or be bad-tempered; slightly aggressive, but I don't think it is strong enough for the behavior you're describing. There's more of an aspect of stubbornness to truculent than getting angry.

"Difficult" people can also be contentious or the type of people who like to argue.

I might also call them confrontational or people who enjoy confronting or opposing other people, but I also don't know if that's strong enough.

Another word came up when I was discussing this with my husband - Defensive : excessively concerned with guarding against the real or imagined threat of criticism, injury to one's ego, or exposure of one's shortcomings. This doesn't always imply angry and aggressive, but it is very closely related to not being able to handle people disagreeing with you. You might call him "aggressively defensive" and it would have the added benefit of combining two normally opposite words :)

In poker, we call them "rammers and jammers" - they play extremely aggressively by raising the bet and re-raising to scare other players out of the hand instead of winning by skill. They also tend to lose a lot of money against folks that play well and know their tricks ;) I don't think that phrase is widely known, and it might mean different things to different people if you use it outside of the context of poker.

The reason I think it fits is because people who get extremely aggressive when other people disagree with them are trying to "win" the discussion by overpowering the other person instead of using their logic.

Improve this answer
3
  • Your last paragraph shows you truly understand the question. However I don't feel the words you choose are a good fit because they could be true of the other person as well. The only difference is that one person tries to win by logic and the other by intimidation and yelling. ...
    – Jack Maddington
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 20:10
  • If no single word exists to describe what I'm after then perhaps a word combination might do the job. (?)
    – Jack Maddington
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 20:14
  • 1
    @JackMaddington There is probably a phrase that would give that sense, but I haven't been able to think of one other than "rammer and jammer." I will keep thinking about it though and update my answer if I come up with something.
    – ColleenV
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 22:04
2

I would use hotheaded:

  1. Easily angered; quick-tempered: a hotheaded commander.
  2. Impetuous; rash: a hotheaded decision.
Improve this answer
1
  • Isn't that a bit generic? There could be many reasons why a person could get angry but I've presented a very specific reason: disagreement on something.
    – Jack Maddington
    Commented May 7, 2016 at 18:21
2

That one is hard to pin with one word in English. I'd try a combo of words that express "disagreeable" and "easily angered", e.g. some combo of these:

Incendiary; inflammatory; fragile; provocable; tempered; Irreconcilable, incorrigible ...

Incorrigible may be good.

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    confrontationally irreconcilable :)
    – Alan Carmack
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 23:42
  • I don't like the word "disagreeable" because two people can disagree on something but still get along. I like "confrontational irreconcilable", it seems to fit the description well, even though it says nothing about the other person's disdain of logical arguments.
    – Jack Maddington
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 20:14

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .