choleric

[kol-er-ik, kuh-ler-ik]

adjective

1. extremely irritable or easily angered; irascible.

   a choleric disposition.

   Synonyms: touchy, impatient, testy, wrathful
   Antonyms: tranquil, phlegmatic

2. Obsolete.

   1. bilious.

   2. causing biliousness.

choleric

/ ˈkɒlərɪk /

adjective

1. bad-tempered

2. bilious or causing biliousness

Other Word Forms

• cholerically adverb
• cholericly adverb
• cholericness noun
• noncholeric adjective
• uncholeric adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of choleric¹

1300–50; Middle English colerik < Medieval Latin colericus bilious, Latin cholericus < Greek cholerikós. See cholera, -ic

Example Sentences

“Palace Fury at Megflix,” The Daily Mail said, though just how choleric the royal family was is open to debate.

Read more on New York Times

Show gang brutality, highlight people clinging to rafts made from rotted wood, make videos of dehydrated, choleric children fighting to live.

Read more on Washington Post

A hot and dry person was thought to be choleric and ruled by yellow bile, associated with childhood and summer.

Read more on 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.

Read more on 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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When To Use

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.