cranky
1 Americanadjective
-
ill-tempered; grouchy; cross.
I'm always cranky when I don't get enough sleep.
- Synonyms:
- perverse, cantankerous, crotchety
-
eccentric; queer.
-
shaky; unsteady; out of order.
-
full of bends or windings; crooked.
-
British Dialect. sickly; in unsound or feeble condition; infirm.
adjective
adjective
-
informal eccentric
-
informal fussy and bad-tempered
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shaky; out of order
-
full of bends and turns
-
dialect unwell
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of cranky1
First recorded in 1780–90; crank 1 + -y 1
Origin of cranky2
Explanation
Cranky is one of those words that sounds a little bit like what it means: one who is cranky is easily annoyed, irritable, or testy. My sister gets cranky when she doesn't eat. If you want to have a good day, keep her well fed. A cranky person doesn't get furious or outraged, they're just easier than usual to annoy—things get on their nerves more quickly than they do for other people. You could think of someone who's cranky as having actual crank. When they're hungry, tired or otherwise worn out that crank is easy to turn—it doesn't take much to make them mad. A person in a good mood, though, has a crank that isn't as easy to turn. That's because they're not cranky.
Vocabulary lists containing cranky
Rules
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The Lemonade War
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Negative Words to Describe People
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In his Cranky Flier blog, Snyder said the meals had been reduced to the airline equivalent of a Hot Pocket in recent years but still stood out.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
Cranky, the Scots started a bit of a scrap on the touchline when Ollie Smith tripped Sexton and sparked a pile-on.
From BBC • Oct. 7, 2023
Brett Snyder, who runs a travel agency and writes the Cranky Flier blog, said Tuesday that there could be demand for adult seats.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 29, 2023
Brett Snyder, a self-described “aviation dork” who worked in the industry and now blogs at the website Cranky Flier, noted that such stopgap measures were no real match for the disruptions caused by the virus.
From New York Times • Dec. 24, 2021
Cranky old men with hangy basset-hound ears and suspenders.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
