grouchy
adjective
sullenly discontented; sulky; morose; ill-tempered.
grouchy
1 American
[grou-chee]
/ ˈgraʊ tʃi /
adjective
-
grouchier,
comparative
-
grouchiest
superlative
Grouchy
2
American
[gr oo-shee]
/ gruˈʃi /
noun
grouchy
British
/ ˈɡraʊtʃɪ /
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of grouchy
Explanation
Are you feeling cranky or irritable and complaining about every little thing that annoys you? You're grouchy. Someone who's grouchy is easily irritated, like the grouchy bus driver who yells for everyone to sit down and be quiet, or your grouchy brother, who grumbles about what's being served for dinner — or the notoriously grouchy Oscar the Grouch from "Sesame Street." Grouchy was college slang in the late 1800s, along with expressions like "to have a grouch on." The root might be grutch, "to complain or find fault with."
Vocabulary lists containing grouchy
Irritable, List 2
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Irritable, List 2
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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.
See Examples For:
Hook died two summers ago at 14, grouchy until the end.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
In the A.I. age, Maggie Hennessy asserts, sparring with a grouchy maître d’ over the phone is part of what makes dining out great.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
I do my own taxes, so I’m my own grouchy accountant, barking at myself to unearth various forms.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 17, 2026
Pamela, as Travers was known around the Disney studio, was grouchy before she granted the rights and grouchy afterwards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
“That guy gives me the willies,” he confessed in a grouchy whisper.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
If you’re grouchy about it, I’m with you on Grouchy Island.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
"Grouchy old guy with the heart of gold," is not a particularly daunting role, but somehow Jones missed the mark.
From Golf Digest ● Mar. 29, 2018
He has trained several dogs for the Peoria area including Grouchy, a dog for the Peoria Heights Police Department, and Dark, who works for the Chillicothe Police Department.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 5, 2016
Along with Earl Sweatshirt, Wiki could form some kind of subgenre, Grouchy Domestic Surrealism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2015
Like Grouchy, at Waterloo, he lost his tète; followed the procession, through every street; and returned to Salem, with all his wares.
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by A Sexton of the Old School
Some surveys showed that mentioning it made voters grouchier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2023
Part of me was delighted by the intimacy and naturalness of these revelations, but a grouchier part was kind of like, “Hey, did I ask for your whole life story?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2019
Anderson gets even grouchier when dealing with his fellow critics, who have been "emotional collaborators" in all this madness.
From Time Magazine Archive
But when the Democratic Party's leading presidential hopeful visits Florida this week, he's likely to hear a grouchier refrain, something along the lines of, "It's about time!"
From Time Magazine Archive
He gave the boy’s aunt more paperwork to fill out and gestured for her to sit in the waiting room, which only made her grouchier yet.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
A little natural vitamin D can bring a sunny disposition to even the grouchiest of curmudgeons.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2021
This season can make even the grouchiest New Yorker an urban romantic, and encourages local residents and visitors alike to rediscover the museums and monuments we sometimes take for granted.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2019
Or perhaps Han bought the galaxy’s grouchiest food-preparation droid, who turned out to have glitchy programming anyway.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 5, 2016
Director Matsumoto, a reigning comic on Japanese TV, manages a balance of farce and impending tragedy that would win the approval of the grouchiest child.
From Time ● Jul. 6, 2012
I would equip myself to be able to entertain the grouchiest, most blasé people.
From 21 by Frank Crane
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.
