adjective
-
of or relating to the spleen
-
spiteful or irritable; peevish
-
obsolete full of melancholy
noun
Other Word Forms
- splenetically adverb
- unsplenetic adjective
- unsplenetically adverb
Etymology
Origin of splenetic
From the Late Latin word splēnēticus, dating back to 1535–45. See splen-, -etic
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.
It’s a look — for starters — at a splenetic young writer who, during a stay in the country, waits for his publisher to weigh in on his unfortunately titled second novel “Club Sandwich.”
From New York Times
When she came back to Broadway, two years later, she gave an eye-scalding fireworks display as the splenetic, dying mother in “Three Tall Women,” for which she won a Tony.
From New York Times
Meanwhile, the commentator and controversialist Piers Morgan, an obsessively close observer and relentless critic of Meghan, inevitably waded in with his usual splenetic views.
From New York Times
These are things that just make us splenetic, things we fall in hate with, even though they are easily ignored.
From Washington Post
For as long as it has existed, rap was, or was supposed to be, the crafted but splenetic outpouring of the dispossessed.
From New York Times
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.
