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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Restive \Rest"ive\ (r?st"?v), adjective [OF. restif, F. r['e]tif, fr. L. restare to stay back, withstand, resist. See {Rest} remainder, and cf. {Restiff}.] . Unwilling to go on; obstinate in refusing to move forward; stubborn; drawing back.
Restive or resty, drawing back, instead of going forward, as some horses do. --E. Philips (1658).
The people remarked with awe and wonder that the beasts which were to drag him [Abraham Holmes] to the gallows became restive, and went back. --Macaulay.
2. Inactive; sluggish. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.
3. Impatient under coercion, chastisement, or opposition; refractory.
4. Uneasy; restless; averse to standing still; fidgeting about; -- applied especially to horses. --Trench. -- {Rest"ive}, adverb -- {Rest"ive*ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
restive
adjective
1: being in a tense state [syn: {edgy}, {high-strung}, {highly strung}, {in suspense(p)}, {jittery}, {jumpy}, {nervy}, {overstrung}, {uptight}]
2: impatient especially under restriction or delay; "the government has done nothing to ease restrictions and manufacturers are growing restive"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
151 Moby Thesaurus words for "restive": antsy, antsy-pantsy, anxious, apathetic, backward, balking, balky, beefing, bellyaching, beyond control, bigoted, bitching, breachy, breathless, bulldogged, bulletheaded, bullheaded, case-hardened, chafing, complaining, complaintful, contumacious, crabbing, crabby, cranky, croaking, cross-grained, defiant, dilatory, disappointed, discontented, disgruntled, displeased, dissatisfied, dogged, dogmatic, eager, edgy, envious, excited, fanatic, faultfinding, fidgety, fluttery, fractious, fretful, fretting, froward, fussy, griping, grouchy, grousing, growling, grudging, grumbling, hardheaded, hasty, headstrong, hopped-up, impatient, impatient of control, impetuous, in a lather, in a stew, in a sweat, incorrigible, indifferent, indocile, indomitable, insuppressible, intolerant, intractable, irrepressible, laggard, loath, malcontent, malcontented, mulish, murmuring, muttering, nervy, obstinate, obstreperous, on edge, opinionated, ornery, out of hand, out of humor, overzealous, peevish, perfunctory, persevering, pertinacious, perverse, petulant, pigheaded, querulant, querulous, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, reluctant, renitent, resentful, resistant, resisting, restless, self-willed, set, shrewish, slow, slow to, squirming, squirmy, stiff-necked, strong-willed, strongheaded, stubborn, sulky, sullen, tenacious, tense, unaccepting, unaccommodating, unbiddable, uncontrollable, uncooperative, uneasy, unenthusiastic, unfulfilled, ungovernable, ungratified, unhappy, unmalleable, unmanageable, unmoldable, unpatient, unquiet, unregenerate, unrestful, unruly, unsatisfied, unsettled, unsubmissive, unzealous, uptight, wayward, whiny, wild, willful, wrongheaded
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