cattish
Americanadjective
-
catlike; feline.
-
spiteful; malicious.
Other Word Forms
- cattishly adverb
- cattishness noun
Etymology
Origin of cattish
First recorded in 1590–1600; cat ( def. ) + -ish 1
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.
Instead, we have the word “catty”—or, more obscurely, “cattish,” or “cat-witted”—to mean spiteful and small-minded.
From The New Yorker
She had very good hair but grey eyes, that gave her a cattish appearance.
From Project Gutenberg
I don’t like people who write about the stars, and then turn around and say mean, nasty, cattish little things just because they’re jealous.
From Project Gutenberg
His deviousness, clowning and attention-seeking have something fittingly and convincingly cattish about them.
From The Guardian
She had adopted him as her guide and philosopher in art; gone about with him more, almost, than with that absurdly busy fellow Brett; until the cattish vicar's wife——!
From Project Gutenberg
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.
