testy

[tes-tee]

See more synonyms for testy on Thesaurus.com

adjective, tes·ti·er, tes·ti·est.

irritably impatient; touchy.

Origin of testy

1325–75; late Middle English testi, alteration of Middle French testu headstrong; replacing Middle English testif < Middle French. See test², -ive

Related formstes·ti·ly, adverbtes·ti·ness, noun

Synonyms for testy

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tetchy, edgy, snappish, cross, irascible. See irritable.

Antonyms for testy

composed.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for testy

sullen, cantankerous, cranky, edgy, impatient, uptight, quarrelsome, grumpy, annoyed, exasperated, bad-tempered, captious, choleric, cross, crotchety, fretful, grouchy, irascible, mean, ornery

Examples from the Web for testy

Contemporary Examples of testy

The Anglo-American “conversations” about the timing of the second front often grew heated and testy.
D-Day Historian Craig Symonds Talks About History’s Most Amazing Invasion
Marc Wortman
June 5, 2014
I've never seen a government official get quite this testy with a reporter.
State Department Aide Tells Reporter to ‘Fuck Off’
Megan McArdle
September 24, 2012
There is a relationship that develops, tense and often testy, between a journalist and his quarry.
How a Freelance Journalist Unraveled Jonah Lehrer’s Lies
Howard Kurtz
August 1, 2012
Meanawhile, there are headlines about Obama getting “testy” with reporter Brad Watson of WFAA in Dallas.
Tale of Two Testy Interviews
Howard Kurtz
April 19, 2011
Given her testy relations with management, it would be easy to label Simpson a troublemaker.
Carole Simpson's Network Battle Scars
Howard Kurtz
January 5, 2011

Historical Examples of testy

"That's all right, that's all right," was the testy rejoinder.
Fair Harbor
Joseph Crosby Lincoln
This, reader, is the abode of the testy but extremely dignified Mrs. Swiggs.
An Outcast
F. Colburn Adams
He didn't know it, but she was trying to say she was sorry she had been impatient and testy.
Sunny Boy in the Big City
Ramy Allison White
She was testy too; but this was owing to the neglect she experienced at the hands of her tribe.
Ungava
R.M. Ballantyne
He was a testy man, and struck the stone an impatient blow with his staff.
Richard Carvel, Complete
Winston Churchill

British Dictionary definitions for testy

testy

adjective -tier or -tiest

irritable or touchy

Derived Formstestily, adverbtestiness, noun

Word Origin for testy

C14: from Anglo-Norman testif headstrong, from Old French teste head, from Late Latin testa skull, from Latin: shell

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for testy

adj.

c.1500, "impetuous, rash," from Middle English testif "headstrong" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French testif, Old French testu "stubborn," literally "heady," from teste "head," from Late Latin testa "skull," in classical Latin "pot, shell" (see tester (n.2)). Meaning "easily irritated" is first recorded 1520s.