peevish

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“
There is more poignant music in the Primavera, in the weary, indifferent countenances of his lean, neuropathic Madonnas--Pater calls them "peevish"--in his Venus of the Uffizi, than in the paintings of any other Renaissance artist.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Querulous or discontented.
  2. adjective Ill-tempered.
  3. adjective Contrary; fractious.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Cook was already peevish, and Clarise didn't want the woman's mood to sour any more than it already had. —  Garwood, Julie - The Prize
  • Swooping disappointment made me peevish, and I opened my mouth to complain at the lack of imagination in their disguises, but to my consternation, what came from my mouth bore little resemblance to English. —  A Monstrous Regiment of Women - Laurie R. King - Russell-Holmes 02
  • The children were restless and even peevish, and their nurse came close to the end of her tether about how to entertain them. —  Mary Balogh - Lord Carew's Bride
  • Though his wife was very peevish, and hard to please, I much preferred to be under her control than the overseer's. —  The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave
  • He sounded a little peevish, and for a moment I wondered if he was jealous, although why he would care what his heterosexual acquaintances were up to, I couldn't imagine. —  Magyar Venus
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

fretful ·  petulant ·  morose ·  surly ·  ill-tempered ·  resentful ·  sullen ·  spiteful ·  choleric ·  unkind ·  discontented ·  irascible
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English pevish, possibly from Latin perversus, past participle of perversus; see perverse.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also peevish, pievish; from Middle English pevische, pevisse, pevysse, peyvesshe, Scots Pevis, pevess, pevych, pevage; prob., with suffix -ish, from Scots pew, peu, pue, make a plaintive noise, cry: see pue. For the form (adjective in -ish from a verb) and its variations, cf.lavish.
 

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/ˈpivɪʃ/
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