Captious. adj. /'k{pS@s/ [< F. captieux < L. captiosus 'falacious, sophistical' < captus ppl. of capere 'to take'; cf. Eng have] 1. Apt to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to cavil; eager to object; difficult to please. 2. Fitted to harass, perplex, or ensnare; insidious; troublesome.

Quotation: "[Edmond] Wilson, on the other hand, had a compulsive competitiveness that meant he had to counterbalance praise with reproach, either providing a list of corrections, no matter how captious, or implying that at the midpoint of a story he had seen a rather better way to finish it than its author had chosen." [Brian Boyd. 1991. Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years, p. 48.]