catty
1 Americanadjective
-
catlike; feline.
-
slyly malicious; spiteful.
a catty gossip.
- Synonyms:
- bitchy, malevolent, nasty, mean
noun
adjective
-
informal spiteful
a catty remark
-
of or resembling a cat
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of catty1
First recorded in 1885–90; cat ( def. ) + -y 1
Origin of catty2
1545–55; < Malay kati
Explanation
Someone who's catty is mean and nasty. A catty student on a school bus might refuse to let another child sit beside him, saying, "You smell bad." If you act catty, you're malicious or snotty toward other people. The adjective is unfortunately used more often to describe females than males, but anyone who treats people nastily can be called catty. The word was originally cattish, with the same meaning — and earlier, it simply meant "pertaining to cats."
Vocabulary lists containing catty
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
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One of Us Is Lying
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Proud
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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.
"Every single time I check on Daniel, he's either holding some ribbons or cuddled up with Catty, conveniently 'having a break'."
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2020
“The last dinosaur of the Parisian night,” as he called himself, was born Michel Georges Alfred Catty on June 18, 1931, in the northern city of Amiens.
From Washington Post • Jan. 28, 2020
Catty New York socialites gossip about a friend and her husband’s girlfriend.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 19, 2019
Michou was born Michel Catty in June 1931 in Amiens, an industrial town in northern France, and raised by his mother and grandmother.
From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2019
A few pages on there comes the subheading “Calumnies Caustic and Catty by Callie.”
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
