The idea behind factious is that of dissent, but in a rather angry way. To say that the Confederacy was a factious group of states would be to understate the case. They wanted out of the Union, and they were willing to go to war to get their way.
Looking at the word factious, you can see that it looks a lot like its cousin "faction," which is a small, sometimes rebellious group. Factious, then, is easy to remember, as it's the adjectival form of the noun "faction." To be factious is to act like a faction. Among bakers, almost all agree that you have to be precise when measuring ingredients. The Brooklyn Faction, though, disagrees. This factious bunch never uses measuring cups or spoons and has called for them to be abolished.
