miff
Americannoun
-
petulant displeasure; ill humor.
-
a petty quarrel.
verb (used with object)
verb
noun
-
a petulant mood
-
a petty quarrel
Etymology
Origin of miff
1615–25; perhaps imitative of exclamation of disgust; compare German muffen to sulk
Explanation
The verb miff is an informal way to say "annoy." If your sister's constant humming is starting to drive you crazy, you can tell her it miffs you. Long ago, the word miff was also used to mean "huff" or "pique," so you might have described yourself as "in a miff" about your sister's tuneless humming. These days, you're more likely to see the adjective miffed describing someone who's irked: "I am so miffed that none of my friends came to my party on time." Experts guess that miff comes from the annoyed sound you might make when you're really miffed.
Vocabulary lists containing miff
The Sound and the Fury: Synonyms for "Anger"
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A Mighty Long Way
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The Red Car to Hollywood
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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.
But then he’ll dig out a joke and do something that might hurt his business — and miff his investors — because, well, he thinks that something is the right thing to do.
From New York Times • Oct. 6, 2012
Well, to cut a long story short, by-long and by-late, John Wildway and I had a miff and parted; and lo and behold, the coming man came!
From Under the Greenwood Tree, or, the Mellstock quire; a rural painting of the Dutch school by Hardy, Thomas
The Hessians are disgusted, and their General De Heister gone home in a miff.
From Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams by Adams, Abigail
"Your mouth goes off well enough on some public matters, I find," remarked Piper, with an air fluctuating between a miff and a laugh.
From The Rangers; or, The Tory's Daughter A tale illustrative of the revolutionary history of Vermont by Thompson, D. P.
"I didn't say it was a miff," protested Pete.
From The Border Boys Across the Frontier by Goldfrap, John Henry
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.
