ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Peevish', Synonyms of 'Peevish' & More on 'Peevish'

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

peevish
    adj 1: easily irritated or annoyed; "an incorrigibly fractious
           young man"; "not the least nettlesome of his countrymen"
           [syn: cranky, fractious, irritable, nettlesome,
           peevish, peckish, pettish, petulant, scratchy,
           testy, tetchy, techy]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Peevish \Pee"vish\, a. [OE. pevische; of uncertain origin, perh.
   from a word imitative of the noise made by fretful children +
   -ish.]
   1. Habitually fretful; easily vexed or fretted; hard to
      please; apt to complain; querulous; petulant. "Her peevish
      babe." --Wordsworth.
      [1913 Webster]

            She is peevish, sullen, froward.      --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable
      dissatisfaction; as, a peevish answer.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Silly; childish; trifling. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            To send such peevish tokens to a king. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Querulous; petulant; cross; ill-tempered; testy;
        captious; discontented. See Fretful.
        [1913 Webster]

Thesaurus Results for Peevish:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

Jeremianic, acrimonious, bad-tempered, beefing, bellyaching, bilious, bitching, cantankerous, captious, carping, catty, caviling, cavilling, churlish, complaining, complaintful, crabbed, crabbing, crabby, cranky, critical, croaking, cross, crotchety, crusty, disappointed, discontented, disgruntled, displeased, dissatisfied, envious, faultfinding, fractious, fretful, griping, grouchy, grousing, growling, grumbling, grumpish, grumpy, howling, huffy, ill-humored, ill-natured, ill-tempered, irritable, lamentive, malcontent, malcontented, moanful, mournful, murmuring, muttering, nagging, naggy, out of humor, pettish, petulant, plaintive, plangent, puling, querulant, querulous, rebellious, resentful, restive, restless, short-tempered, shrewish, snappish, sorrowful, splenetic, sulky, testy, tetchy, touchy, ululant, unaccepting, unaccommodating, uneasy, unfulfilled, ungratified, unhappy, unsatisfied, vixenish, vixenly, wailful, waspish, whimpering, whining, whiny

Common Misspellings >