adjective
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fretful or irritable
a peevish child
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obsolete perverse
Related Words
See cross.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of peevish
1350–1400; Middle English pevysh of unknown origin
Explanation
When you're peevish, you're easily irritated and grumpy. Everything seems to get under your skin. Know someone who always seems annoyed, grumpy, cranky, or irritated? That person is peevish. Some people are peevish in general, but most people can be peevish about certain subjects — we all have a pet peeve. Lots of people get peevish about language: like using the word like all the time as verbal filler. Being peevish is almost always considered a form of pettiness — it's not a good thing. When you're peevish, you're not really looking at the big picture.
Vocabulary lists containing peevish
100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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Even More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Curmudgeon, Cantankerous and Churlish: Grouchy Words
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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.
Titus hands power to Saturninus, the eldest son of the late Roman emperor, played with a comic spin as a peevish dilettante by Matthew Amendt.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026
“He looks startled,” Reed said of the president’s peevish performance.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2024
Even when he was trying to sound upbeat, the river of resentment would burble up in his mannerisms and his peevish voice.
From Salon • Jan. 23, 2024
The pilot opens with a peevish Hank trying to ignore that he learned his dad was retiring via a celebratory newspaper article on the front page of the arts section.
From Washington Post • Mar. 18, 2023
Declaration’s note back to me was prickly, bordering on peevish.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
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.
