pettish
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- pettishly adverb
- pettishness noun
Etymology
Origin of pettish
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.
The same temptation is evident when Alter defends God’s words after he has allowed all of Job’s children to be murdered as part of what amounts to a pettish bet with the Adversary, Satan.
From The New Yorker
On an international stage, Pence made America look small with his pettish behavior.
From New York Times
Netanyahu’s campaign advertisements, on the other hand, cast the prime minister as the only adult in a collapsing coalition government filled with pettish, quarrelsome kindergarteners — more fodder for “A Wonderful Land.”
From Washington Post
He found her unreasonable, exacting, pettish if thwarted, absolutely unsympathetic, and with a mind incapable of comprehending his.
From Project Gutenberg
Then she dashed her hand across her eyes--though I saw no tears in them--and with a pettish exclamation turned away.
From Project Gutenberg
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.
