ETYMOLOGY
from French rebarbatif (repellent, disagreeable),
from rebarber (to oppose, to stand up to; referring to two men squaring up face to face, beard to beard, aggressively) + -atif
EXAMPLE
“…It is not very clear why Sir Robert Coke (for that is his name) bestows so much trouble and time on this very rebarbative lady; it certainly is not for her undisguised admiration of him, as his own fascinations as well as his position enable him to command as much admiration as he cares for, and, besides, he seems to find it embarrassing; and it is not for the sake of her personal beauty, for she has none…”
From: The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art
Volume 74, November 12, 1892
‘Mrs Bligh’
PRONUNCIATION
ruh-BAR-buh-tiv
Lexicophilia 