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phrase requests - More formal word for the chronic state of being in a snit



This question relates to my previous question: More formal word for "know-it-all"


I would like to describe the general attitude of a particular witness, in my closing argument. This will help me comment on her reliability as a witness. She was very negative about everything, and came across as being in a snit about everything. I need a word for this idea of being in a snit. She was opposed to everything. She got herself tied into contradictory knots because she was opposed to so many things.


The word could be an adjective describing her constant oppositional state. Or it could be a word to mean the oppositional state itself. It should show that it comes from a desire to show that everything the parent speaks, acts, dreams, or breathes is wrong. That was her guiding principle. But it was an emotional (visceral) thing for her. She's too stupid to be analytical.


Oppositional doesn't work because two-year-olds are oppositional. They say "no" to everything. This person had a negative attitude only regarding whatever she thought the parents were saying or trying to accomplish.


The closest I've gotten so far is that she was pathologically anti-parent. But I can't say "pathologically" in the closing argument. I need a less offensive sounding word.


(Being in this perpetual snit affected her memory and her judgment. She ended up speaking total nonsense.)



Answer



She sounds like a hostile witness, technically an "adverse witness" in a trial who is found by the judge to be hostile (adverse) to the position of the party whose attorney is questioning the witness, even though the attorney called the witness to testify on behalf of his/her client. When the attorney calling the witness finds that the answers are contrary to the legal position of his/her client or the witness becomes openly antagonistic, the attorney may request the judge to declare the witness to be "hostile" or "adverse." If the judge declares the witness to be hostile (i.e. adverse), the attorney may ask "leading" questions which suggest answers or are challenging to the testimony just as on cross examination of a witness who has testified for the opposition.


Or at least hostile . 2.opposed in feeling, action, or character; antagonistic: hostile criticism. 3. characterized by antagonism.


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