Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being moody; peevishness; sullenness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being moody; specifically, liability to strange or violent moods.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The property of being moody.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a sullen gloomy feeling
  • noun having temperamental and changeable moods

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

moody +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • Although his Twilight saga work requires a certain moodiness, Lautner proved he has enthusiasm to spare in his guest spot as SNL host last year.

    Taylor Lautner Cast As STRETCH ARMSTRONG – Collider.com 2010

  • In other cases we meet with moodiness, which is not sad but irritable and angry, and consequently differs from the regular irritability of the epileptic; it frequently leads to most violent attacks upon those about them.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11: New Mexico-Philip 1840-1916 1913

  • Lydgate, relieved from anxiety about her, relapsed into what she inwardly called his moodiness -- a name which to her covered his thoughtful preoccupation with other subjects than herself, as well as that uneasy look of the brow and distaste for all ordinary things as if they were mixed with bitter herbs, which really made a sort of weather-glass to his vexation and foreboding.

    Middlemarch: a study of provincial life (1900) 1871

  • Lydgate, relieved from anxiety about her, relapsed into what she inwardly called his moodiness -- a name which to her covered his thoughtful preoccupation with other subjects than herself, as well as that uneasy look of the brow and distaste for all ordinary things as if they were mixed with bitter herbs, which really made a sort of weather-glass to his vexation and foreboding.

    Middlemarch 1871

  • Lydgate, relieved from anxiety about her, relapsed into what she inwardly called his moodiness -- a name which to her covered his thoughtful preoccupation with other subjects than herself, as well as that uneasy look of the brow and distaste for all ordinary things as if they were mixed with bitter herbs, which really made a sort of weather-glass to his vexation and foreboding.

    Middlemarch George Eliot 1849

  • Lobotomies were used mainly in the 1930s to 1950s to treat a wide range of severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, clinical depression, and various anxiety disorders, as well as people who were considered a nuisance by demonstrating behavior characterized as, for example, "moodiness" or "youthful defiance".

    dailycomic Diary Entry dailycomic 2008

  • But the synthetic version used in the WHI -- medroxyprogesterone acetate, or MPA -- has been linked to unpleasant side effects such as moodiness, breast tenderness and bloating.

    Sorting Through the Choices 2008

  • And, sadly, I learned that my wife and I had been in denial about Jack's ever-increasing aggressiveness (we called it "moodiness" when he growled at us and nipped at friends) until it was too late.

    'My Boy' Had Become A Threat to Our Safety 2007

  • New Scientist is reporting that the 'moodiness' experienced by some women during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle may be linked to the function of the orbitofrontal cortex.

    Mind Hacks: Possible explanation for premenstrual moodiness 2005

  • New Scientist is reporting that the 'moodiness' experienced by some women during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle may be linked to the function of the orbitofrontal cortex.

    Mind Hacks: October 2005 Archives 2005

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