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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pet·u·lant

Audio Help [pech-uh-luh

nt] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, esp. over some trifling annoyance: a petulant toss of the head.

[Origin: 1590–1600; < L petulant- (s. of petulāns) impudent, akin to petere to seek, head for

]

—Related forms

pet·u·lant·ly, adverb

—Synonyms irritable, peevish, fretful, pettish, touchy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
petulant

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pet·u·lant Audio Help (pěch'ə-lənt) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered; peevish.
Contemptuous in speech or behavior.

[Latin petulāns, petulant-, insolent, from petere, to assail; see pet- in Indo-European roots.]

pet'u·lance, pet'u·lan·cy n., pet'u·lant·ly adv.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
petulant

1599, "immodest, wanton, saucy," from M.Fr. petulant (1350), from L. petulantem (nom. petulans) "wanton, froward, insolent," from the root of petere "rush at, seek" (see petition). Meaning "peevish, irritable" first recorded 1775, probably by influence of pet (2).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

petulant
adjective
easily irritated or annoyed; "an incorrigibly fractious young man"; "not the least nettlesome of his countrymen"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Petulant

Pet"u*lance\, Petulancy \Pet"u*lan*cy\, n. [L. petulania: cf. F. p['e]tulance. See Petulant.] The quality or state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. "The petulancy of our words." --B. Jonson.

Like pride in some, and like petulance in others. --Clarendon.

The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown. --Cowper.

Syn: Petulance, Peevishness. -- Peevishness implies the permanence of a sour, fretful temper; petulance implies temporary or capricious irritation.

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