Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew.
- adj. Shrewish; scolding.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. [capitalized] An imaginary deity, supposed to have been worshiped by the Mohammedans, and introduced into the moralities and other shows, in which he figured as a most violent and turbulent personage.
- n. A turbulent, brawling person, male or female.
- n. A boisterous, brawling, or turbulent woman; a shrew; a virago; a scold.
- Violent; turbulent; boisterous; quarrelsome; scolding; of women, shrewish.
Wiktionary
- n. A quarrelsome, scolding woman.
- adj. Quarrelsome and scolding or censorious; shrewish.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An imaginary being supposed by the Christians to be a Moslem deity or false god. He is represented in the ancient moralities, farces, and puppet shows as extremely vociferous and tumultous.
- n. A boisterous, brawling, turbulent person; -- formerly applied to both sexes, now only to women.
- adj. Tumultuous; turbulent; boisterous; furious; quarrelsome; scolding.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman
Examples
“Chapati Mystery a blog by Sepoy, "a doctoral candidate in History and South Asian Languages and Civilizations department at the University of Chicago" has a great post about the history of the word termagant 'a quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew.”
“Lord! what a termagant is your pretty cousin, Mr. Mallock!" said my companion when we were out of doors again.”
“Do I feel bad that I was done in by a 13-year-old boy and didn't know that "termagant" means me at times ... a quarrelsome woman?”
“I'd never heard "termagant" before, I'll have to look it up :”
“I am particularly fond of the word "termagant," so if you're an AF reading this post, do feel free to use that word as a descriptor for me.”
“If it had the personality of a jay or a gull I would more readily believe there was a meaningful connection with "termagant".”
“Petermann Etterlin, one of the early sixteenth-century Swiss authors who told the tale of William Tell, also wrote of how regional Governor Winkelried killed one of the termagant dragons: he wrapped thorny branches around a long lance and pushed this into the dragon's open mouth; then he finished off the beast with his sword.”
The Huffington Post: Richard Bangs: Here Be Dragons: Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland, Part 3
“And the woman was a termagant — at least so I've been told.”
“Her eldest son, Alec, returns home with his termagant wife when their house collapses.”
“Is this change from termagant to Good Housekeeping mom of 1945 real?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘termagant’.
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olelickerish
acnestis, myrmidon, mutande, licentious, lugubrious, obsequy, quidnunc, steatopygous, frisson, termagant, emanuensis, hill of venus
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jeffrey.t.whitney's list
sartorial, sabbatarian, sagacious, desiccate, ersatz, insouciant, atavistic, luddite, crwth, obdurate, stentorian, ruminate and 51 more...
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Scold
scold, callet, callat, catamaran, rixatrix, bard, vixen, nagger, termagant, chider, lambaster, frabber and 9 more...
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theyearofglad's list
Awesome words.
palimpsest, portmanteau, prolix, sycophant, eschew, revenant, haecceity, velleity, equipoise, caesura, soteriology, inchoate and 23 more...
dimã©lion "fascinating" is right, Milosrdenstvi! what a journey. Jun 27, 2009
milosrdenstvi Have a look at the Wikipedia article. What a fascinating etymology! Jun 27, 2009
yarb She is of a good family; and as for her temper, I can assure you it is unparalleled for evenness and sweetness. None of your termagant mistresses, never to be pleased, but always grumbling and scolding about everything, making the house ring with their clack, and fretting poor servants to a thread, whose places, in short, are a hell upon earth!
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 4 ch. 7 Sep 18, 2008
jaime_d from Trollope Sep 30, 2007