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:
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
His second day of testimony in federal court in Oakland, California grew testy at times, as OpenAI's lawyers sought to portray the Tesla tycoon as an unreliable narrator of the company's history.
From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026
What were they doing to develop “anti-smog muffler devices”? A month later, Hahn got back the first of many testy, patronizing responses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
When I asked the Vermont Independent what could be done to return to some semblance of normalcy, he seemed testy, waved his hands and said, “We’re doing the best we can.”
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
“We aren’t Messengers yet, so hold your horses,” said Sticky, who was still trying to recover from his wounded feelings and felt a bit testy.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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
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
Another, even testier, ad shows a suburban water scofflaw answering the front door to find a frowning elderly woman with a cane.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2015
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.
