adjective
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bad-tempered
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bilious or causing biliousness
Usage
What does choleric mean? Choleric means easily angered or generally bad-tempered.People described as choleric are grouchy all the time and prone to getting into arguments, often for very little reason.The word choleric comes from the medieval notion that people’s personalities are based on the balance of four different types of elemental fluids in their body, called humors. A choleric person was thought to be generally irritable due to the amount of yellow bile, or choler, in their body.Example: She was the kind of choleric person who would get into a fight over anything and everything.
Other Word Forms
- cholerically adverb
- cholericly adverb
- cholericness noun
- noncholeric adjective
- uncholeric adjective
Etymology
Origin of choleric
1300–50; Middle English colerik < Medieval Latin colericus bilious, Latin cholericus < Greek cholerikós. See cholera, -ic
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.
“Palace Fury at Megflix,” The Daily Mail said, though just how choleric the royal family was is open to debate.
From New York Times
A hot and dry person was thought to be choleric and ruled by yellow bile, associated with childhood and summer.
From Washington Post
Even outside politics, Mr. Jones’s choleric, wide-eyed style has influenced the way in which a new generation of conspiracy theorists looks for fame online.
From New York Times
Griffith was one of those self-mythologizing frontier characters, a self-promoter of choleric temper and roller-coaster fortunes; the “colonel” title itself is of murky origin, perhaps from some brief spell with the California National Guard.
From Los Angeles Times
He tweeted out links to his choleric TV interviews with a hearty “Enjoy!”
From New York Times
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.
