petulance

American  

[pech-uh-luhns] / ˈpɛtʃ ə ləns /

noun

1. the state or quality of being petulant.

2. a petulant speech or action.

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Etymology

Origin of petulance

First recorded in 1600–10, petulance is from the Latin word petulantia impudence. See petulant, -ance

Explanation

Petulance is whininess and irritability. Your least favorite thing about the kids you babysit might be their petulance. The noun petulance is the quality of being fretful, complaining, petty, or generally cranky. It's not a pleasant characteristic — it's almost always described negatively, like when you talk about the childishness and petulance of your constantly whining boss or the petulance of a hotel guest who complains about the pillows being too fluffy. Petulance comes from the Latin petulantia, which means insolence or immodesty.

Example Sentences

Alan Wolfe, a distinguished professor emeritus at Boston College and prolific scholar of American political thought, gives us “The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity.”

From New York Times • Dec. 7, 2018

Petulance, intransigence, arrogance; basically, he was found guilty of being Steve Jobs.

From Inc • Oct. 5, 2011

The poor soul thinks he sees before him the indignation of the just; when very likely it is only what in a man would be called Petulance.

From A Perilous Secret by Reade, Charles

Petulance is not wit, although a few grains of wit may be found in petulance: quartz is not gold, although a few grains of gold may be found in quartz.

From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Landor, Walter Savage

For all Mankind, unknown, his Bosom heaves; He only injures those, with whom he lives, Read then the Man;—does Truth his Actions guide, Exempt from Petulance, exempt from Pride?

From Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume I (of 2) A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings by Bruce, Wiliam Cabell