Definition of rebarbative

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re·bar·ba·tive    (r-bärb-tv) KEY 

ADJECTIVE:

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

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ETYMOLOGY:
French rébarbatif, from Old French, from (se) rebarber, to confront : re-, re- + barbe, beard (from Latin barba; see bhardh-- in Indo-European roots)