grumpy
Americanadjective
-
grumpier,
comparative
-
grumpiest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of grumpy
1770–80; grump expressive word, first attested in the phrase humps and grumps slights and snubs + -y 1
Explanation
When your friend suggests a restaurant but you’re in a bad mood so you say “That’s a stupid restaurant” — even though you don’t really mind it — then you’re being grumpy, meaning irritable or grouchy. There are all kinds of reasons for feeling grumpy: maybe you’re tired or annoyed or you have a headache. Whatever the cause, when you’re grumpy you just want to sulk in a corner. Even though it’s a negative word, it’s a pretty gentle one. When you're grumpy, you’re not mad or mean — you’re just unpleasant for the moment. But don’t tell someone who’s grumpy that he's being grumpy . . . He likely won’t respond kindly to that.
Vocabulary lists containing grumpy
"Dr. Seuss" by Jill Foran
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Shiloh
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for November 26–December 2, 2022
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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.
See Examples For:
A Gammonsesque bookend: Decades later, Joe DiMaggio bought the writer a drink because Mr. Gammons shooed an interviewer away from the notoriously private and grumpy Joltin’ Joe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Is he as grumpy and as irascible as he was in the first season?
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Despite the extra precautions she said the children were "all tired and a little grumpy" but praised their "fantastic patience".
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
He was trained by colorful and often grumpy Mel Stute, who was, like Shoemaker, a fixture at Santa Anita.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
He tried boosting Ron’s confidence all through dinner, but Ron was too busy being grumpy and surly with Hermione to notice.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
They aren't as social as their alpine counterparts, Blumstein said, and the female marmots get grumpier as they age.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
But French fans, despite their tricolore turnouts up and down the East Coast, became even grumpier during their win over Iraq after enduring a lengthy delay and biblical downpour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
A little of both, I’d say, although with Biden, I don’t think of him as particularly grumpy, and there are times when being grumpier might help his cause.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
Or if a hive is in trouble and doesn’t have a queen, the bees tend to be a little grumpier.
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2023
Since Lynn had been sick, he’d been grumpier, but I’d never seen anything like tonight.
From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata
Five young Pallas's cats, dubbed the world's grumpiest feline for their sullen facial expressions, went on display at a zoo in Japan on Thursday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
And what could inspire one of the grumpiest characters in children’s television to get his groove on?
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2022
The grumpiest critics will argue that Mr. Reitman only delivered a frothy serving of the familiar, rehashing too much from the 1984 film for fan service akin to what J.J.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 2, 2022
"He wouldn’t put his name on the list for a nursing home knowing nobody would take the cat, who has the grumpiest meow I've ever heard."
From Fox News ● Jan. 11, 2022
Even the grumpiest and sleepiest of the men stood up straight.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
