petulant
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɛt͡ʃʊlənt/
ipa: /ˈpɛtjʊlənt/
ipa: /ˈpɛt͡ʃələnt/
ipa: /ˈpɛtjələnt/
Forms: form: more petulant
form: most petulant
Etymology: From Middle French, from Latin petulāns, akin to petō (“to ask for”).
Senses: examples: text: Lack of sleep is causing Dave's recent petulant behavior.
text: But when your praying has troubled the silence long it may be that some god as he strolls in Pegāna’s glades may come on one of our lost prayers, that flutters like a butterfly tossed in storm when all its wings are broken; then if the gods be merciful they may ease our fears in Sidith, or else they may crush us, being petulant gods, and so we shall see trouble in Sidith no longer, with its pestilence and dearth and fears of war.
ref: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 61:
text: Former associates have described Musk as petty, cruel and petulant, particularly when frustrated or challenged.
ref: 2021 December 13, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2021:
text: Green Day’s petulant pop-punk album Dookie came out three years after that and moved another 10 million, as did a sweeping 1995 double album by Smashing Pumpkins.
ref: 2022, Chuck Klosterman, The Nineties, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: bad-tempered
word: crabby
word: grouchy
word: huffy
word: atrabilious
word: liverish
word: bad-tempered
word: fractious
word: bilious
word: bitchy
word: brainish
word: cantankerous
word: carnaptious
word: crabbit
word: crabby
word: cranky
word: crotchety
word: dyspeptic
word: edgy
word: fantoddish
word: fiery
word: fretful
word: grumpy
word: grotchy
word: grouchy
word: hissy
word: hot-livered
word: hot-tempered
word: hotheaded
word: huffy
word: humpy
word: ill-natured
word: ill-tempered
word: irascible
word: irritable
word: out of sorts
word: ornery (chiefly US)}
word: peevish
word: pettish
word: petulant
word: prickly
word: quick-tempered
word: querulous
word: raspy
word: ratty
word: short-tempered
word: snappish
word: snappy
word: snippety
word: snippish
word: snippy
word: snitchy
word: splenetic
word: stressy
word: surly
word: testy
word: tetchy
word: tetty
word: thin-skinned
word: thorny
word: touchy
word: twitchy
word: umbrageous
word: waspish
antonyms: easygoing
glosses: Childishly irritable.
examples: text: Who hath not like cause to complain, and is not so troubled, that shall fall into the mouths of such men? for many are of so petulant a spleen
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: brazen
word: flippant
word: impertinent
word: audacious
word: bold
word: get wise
word: bold-faced
word: bold as brass
word: brassy
word: brazen
word: brazen-faced
word: cheeky
word: chutzpadik
word: cocket
word: cute
word: dicacious
word: facey
word: familiar
word: flippant
word: flip
word: forward
word: fresh
word: impudent
word: impertinent
word: insolent
word: irreverent
word: malapert
word: pert
word: petulant
word: sassy
word: saucy
glosses: Forward; pert; insolent; wanton.
Derived terms: petulantly
unpetulant