Petulant

//ˈpɛt͡ʃʊlənt// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Childishly irritable.

    "Lack of sleep is causing Dave's recent petulant behavior."

  2. 2
    Forward; pert; insolent; wanton. obsolete

    "Who hath not like cause to complain, and is not so troubled, that shall fall into the mouths of such men? for many are of so petulant a spleen"

Adjective
  1. 1
    easily irritated or annoyed wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
crabbygrouchyhuffyirritablesnappishairy fairy

Example

More examples

"Don't get all petulant and whiny."

Etymology

From Middle French, from Latin petulāns, akin to petō (“to ask for”).

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