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• waspish
  waspish

  adjective

  like or suggesting a wasp, especially in behavior.
• Waspish
  Waspish

  adjective

  Waspy.

waspish

¹ American  

[wos-pish] / ˈwɒs pɪʃ /

adjective

1. like or suggesting a wasp, especially in behavior.

2. quick to resent a trifling affront or injury; snappish.

   Synonyms:

   resentful

3. irascibly or petulantly spiteful.

   waspish writing.

   Synonyms:

   touchy, testy

4. having a slight or slender build.

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Waspish ² American  

[wos-pish] / ˈwɒs pɪʃ /

Or WASPish

adjective

1. Waspy.

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waspish British  

/ ˈwɒspɪʃ /

adjective

1. relating to or suggestive of a wasp

2. easily annoyed or angered

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Other Word Forms

• WASPishness
  noun
• Waspishness
  noun
• waspishness
  noun
• WASPishly
  adverb
• Waspishly
  adverb
• waspishly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of waspish¹

First recorded in 1560–70; wasp + -ish ¹

Origin of Waspish²

First recorded in 1965–70; WASP + -ish ¹

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Explanation

If someone is acting irritable or crabby, you can describe them as waspish. Your sister's waspish complaints about dinner aren't likely to convince your dad to order pizza for her instead. This adjective comes from the word wasp and the notion that wasps are spiteful and ill-tempered, stinging petulantly when they feel cranky. If someone calls you waspish, that's what they mean — you're easily irritated. It's less common than it once was (waspish has been used since at least the mid-1500s), but it's still a great way to describe anyone who's quick to express their anger.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

waspish Waspish

Brookner, alas, did nothing to dispel these assumptions, and waspish critics felt she lacked pizazz: “a sad little handbag-carrying lady,” the novelist Frederic Raphael cruelly proposed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

Kohli rarely seemed to break sweat during a chanceless knock which featured shots around the ground, and was characterised by powerful drives, waspish cuts and clinical punishment of anything short.

From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2025

And this was one of the least waspish awards shows in memory, with few jokes at the expense of actors or shows, apart from one about “The Bear” being a comedy without jokes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2024

Enjoy Garner’s wonderfully waspish essay on aging ungracefully, which manages to germanely quote both Marilynne Robinson and Dirty Harry?

From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2024

Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors’ work while the Slytherins sniggered appreciatively.

From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling

Waspish U. S. Army pursuit planes rose to greet it.

From Time Magazine Archive

Waspish Author Peyrefitte writes like a countryman of Rabelais and Voltaire, but in the U.S., where there is no comparable tradition of anticlerical literature, he is likely to shock more than to entertain.

From Time Magazine Archive

Solomon's grandson, who now heads the shrunken business empire, is an Episcopalian with an archetypically Waspish name, Peter Lawson-Johnston.

From Time Magazine Archive

He replaces the tall, Waspish dean of Ivy League college presidents, John Sloan Dickey, who is retiring after 25 years of transforming Dartmouth.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some invasion sure it was; For we heard the captains scold; Waspish cavalry a-buzz,— Troopers uniformed in gold, Sable-slashed,—to charge on us.

From Kentucky Poems by Madison J. Cawein

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