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peevish
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As an adjective, peevish means characterized by or exhibiting petty bad temper, bad-tempered, moody, cross.
Meanings of peevish
11 meaningsadjective
Characterized by or exhibiting petty bad temper, bad-tempered, moody, cross.
“I would rather figure things out on my own than ask that peevish librarian for help.”
Constantly complaining, whining; childishly fretful.
“There were several peevish patients in the doctor's waiting room.”
Easily annoyed, especially by things that are not important; irritable, querulous.
mostly obsoletePerverse, refractory; headstrong, obstinate; capricious, skittish; (also) coy.
Older and rare meanings (6)
obsoleteNorthern EnglandClever, expert.
obsoleteCanadaNorthern EnglandSharp, piercing, bitter (of the wind); windy, blustery (of the weather).
obsoleteSilly, senseless, foolish.
obsoleteBeside oneself; out of one's senses; mad.
obsoleteSpiteful, malignant, mischievous, harmful.
obsoleteHateful, distasteful, horrid.
adverb
obsoletePeevishly.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).