testy
Americanadjective
-
testier,
comparative
-
testiest
superlative
adjective
Synonym Usage
See irritable.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of testy
First recorded in 1325–75; late Middle English testi, alteration of Middle French testu “headstrong”; replacing Middle English testif, from Middle French. See test 2, -ive
Explanation
You might feel a bit testy before taking a test, but the words test and testy are unrelated. Feeling testy means being peeved, annoyed, or irritated. The adjective testy is associated with being irritable and on edge. If you find yourself frustrated and becoming impatient, you might make a testy remark like “What the heck is taking so long?” If a family member is acting particularly cranky over breakfast, you might say, “Well, aren’t you testy this morning!” However, a comment like that could be met with a testy reply such as “Mind your own business!”
Vocabulary lists containing testy
Curmudgeon, Cantankerous and Churlish: Grouchy Words
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Out of the Dust
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Julius Caesar
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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.
See Examples For:
Moore’s injury turned an already testy rivalry game into something far angrier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
The publication reported that the forum “got testy at several points, with some audience members openly booing” the speakers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Teaming them up as a testy odd couple allows “Lanterns” to both highlight Hal’s insecurity and use the Green Lantern universe’s rules to interrogate systemic imbalances.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
In sometimes testy exchanges with OpenAI's lawyers, and indeed the judge, he has argued Altman and fellow executive Greg Brockman "stole a charity" by pursuing profit-generating initiatives he felt went against its founding mission.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
Already his teacher was getting testy as more pupils vanished out of the classroom to go to work in the fields now that the weather had really and truly turned toward warm.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
Exchanges at the Supreme Court are getting testier, as one this week between Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Ketanji Brown Jackson attests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Over the years, the tone of employee chatter has grown testier, echoing shifts on social media and in broader society.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
Aside from the tone—everyone involved seemed a bit testier than usual—not much was new.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2019
If anything, the star quarterback sounded testier when the subject of a rookie safety's interception came up.
From US News ● Jul. 28, 2016
With every answer, Mrs. Moss was getting testier, until her attorney interjected, “We’re bordering on harassment.”
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Microsoft, the first major tech company to release a paper making such a bold claim, stirred one of the tech world’s testiest debates: Is the industry building something akin to human intelligence?
From New York Times ● May 16, 2023
Even our testiest writers knew she was on their side.
From Golf Digest ● Dec. 16, 2019
Now with relations between Washington and Ankara going through one of their testiest periods in recent memory, he may find it even tougher to get those dual messages across when he visits on Wednesday.
From Reuters ● Aug. 23, 2016
He will simplify his schedule in order to make room for America’s oldest and testiest orchestra.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 27, 2016
Strikingly, some of the testiest exchanges of the evening came on issues where the differences among the candidates were largely a matter of degree.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2015
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.
