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View synonyms for crabbed

crabbed

[ krab-id, krabd ]

adjective

  1. Synonyms: cantankerous, peevish, cross

  2. hard to understand; intricate and obscure.
  3. difficult to read or decipher, as handwriting.


crabbed

/ ˈkræbɪd /

adjective

  1. surly; irritable; perverse
  2. (esp of handwriting) cramped and hard to decipher
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈcrabbedly, adverb
  • ˈcrabbedness, noun
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Other Words From

  • crab·bed·ly adverb
  • crab·bed·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of crabbed1

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; crab 3, -ed 3
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Word History and Origins

Origin of crabbed1

C13: probably from crab 1(from its wayward gait), influenced by crab ( apple ) (from its tartness)
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Example Sentences

Nobody wanted to hand a plum invasion spot to some fat egghead from a snooty rag, he crabbed.

Many years ago I was very much wounded (but I said nothing) to hear myself spoken of as a churl, an impossible and crabbed man.

She took the paper almost mechanically, and for some moments she studied the crabbed signature before realizing whose it was.

And very keenly and bitterly had she been made to feel during those first few months her dependence upon the crabbed old miller.

Am I sure that I myself have not crabbed my own show a bit in telling the full story of our fight to K. this afternoon?

"Generally crabbed and reticent with strangers, he took a liking to me," says Emma Lazarus.

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Crabbecrabber