Crotchety

//ˈkɹɑ.t͡ʃɪ.ti// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Cranky, disagreeable, or stubborn, especially if prone to odd whims or fancies.

    "He wouldnt even let old Wilkie touch it do you remember Gerald but always gathered it himself and made his own julep. He was as crochety about his julep as an old maid, measuring everything by a recipe in his head."

Adjective
  1. 1
    having a difficult and contrary disposition wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abnormalanomalousantagonisticantipatheticarbitrarybearish

Example

More examples

"He wouldnt even let old Wilkie touch it do you remember Gerald but always gathered it himself and made his own julep. He was as crochety about his julep as an old maid, measuring everything by a recipe in his head."

Etymology

From crotchet + -y, using crotchet in the 16th-century sense of a whim or fancy.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.