spleenful
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- spleenfully adverb
Etymology
Origin of spleenful
Explanation
A spleenful person is irritable and spiteful. If someone is full of mean, snarky comments, criticisms, complaints, and general negativity, you could call them spleenful. Spleenful is not a very common word in modern English. It's derived from the noun spleen, which is an important organ in the body that helps to form white blood cells and get rid of worn-out red blood cells. In ancient and medieval medicine, the spleen was thought to be the organ that produced "black bile," one of the four bodily humors that governed a person's temperament. Black bile was associated with a nasty, morose attitude. So spleenful is used to describe someone with a bad temper.
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.
A Peugeot had a headlight demolished by a spleenful buffalo; another car hit a giraffe.
From Time Magazine Archive
Careless, if envy, with a spleenful sneer, Reviles that eulogy she bates to bear, Saying with freedom's ill-assum'd pretence, 'Tis noxious flattery, o'erwhelming sense.
From Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects Printed only as Private Tokens of Regard, for the Particular Friends of the Author by Hayley, William
Ah, those maladette bestie di serpenti—they swarmed among the rocks: they were of every kind and size; worst of all, the spleenful naja.
From Fountains in the Sand Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia by Douglas, Norman
But the gauntlet now is nearly run, The spleenful forts by fits reply, And the burning boat dies down in morning's sky.
From Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War by Melville, Herman
His fluency was as remarkable as ever, and at first as spleenful; by-and-by his outrageous mood gave way, and, in response to some of Rainham's adroit thrusts, he condescended to stand on his defence.
From A Comedy of Masks A Novel by Dowson, Ernest Christopher
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.
