pettish

[ pet-ish ]
See synonyms for pettish on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. petulantly peevish: a pettish refusal.

Origin of pettish

1
First recorded in 1585–95; see origin at pet2, -ish1

Other words from pettish

  • pet·tish·ly, adverb
  • pet·tish·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pettish in a sentence

  • Then she raised the red-willow wand, and pettishly struck at the tall flowering head of a plant before her.

    Menotah | Ernest G. Henham
  • But Montagu took no notice of his sardonic harshness, and seated himself by his side, though Eric pettishly pushed him away.

    Eric, or Little by Little | Frederic W. Farrar
  • "Nothing, dame," said Margaret somewhat pettishly, and changing her posture so as rather to turn her back upon the kind inquirer.

    The Fortunes of Nigel | Sir Walter Scott
  • Devilish cold,' he added pettishly, 'standing at that door, wasting one's time with such seedy vagabonds!'

    The Pickwick Papers | Charles Dickens
  • People who pettishly insisted upon these extremes of the game he sneeringly called golf lawyers.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for pettish

pettish

/ (ˈpɛtɪʃ) /


adjective
  1. peevish; petulant: a pettish child

Origin of pettish

1
C16: from pet ²

Derived forms of pettish

  • pettishly, adverb
  • pettishness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012