Shrewish
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Of or pertaining to a shrew (a nagging, ill-tempered woman).
"“For my own part,” she rejoined, “I must confess that I never could see any beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no brilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome. Her nose wants character; there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are tolerable, but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, which have sometimes been called so fine, I never could perceive any thing extraordinary. They have a sharp, shrewish look, which I do not like at all; and in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency without fashion, which is intolerable.”"
- 2 Bad-tempered; ill-natured; obstinate, as a shrew.
- 1 continually complaining or faultfinding wordnet
Example
More examples"“For my own part,” she rejoined, “I must confess that I never could see any beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no brilliancy; and her features are not at all handsome. Her nose wants character; there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are tolerable, but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, which have sometimes been called so fine, I never could perceive any thing extraordinary. They have a sharp, shrewish look, which I do not like at all; and in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency without fashion, which is intolerable.”"
Etymology
From shrew + -ish. Compare Middle English schrewis, shrewessh, shrewyssh (“wicked, malignant”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.