as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
a bilious old dog who snaps at everyone
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Recent Examples of bilious
And Emily’s side of the family isn't much better, represented by her mean, bilious aunt (Allison Janney, herself no slouch in the hissing-authority department) and her boozy mother (Elizabeth Perkins, replacing Jean Smart from the first film).
—
Tom Gliatto, People.com, 30 Apr. 2025
Under Nézet-Séguin, the musicians do the job spectacularly, releasing all those bilious harmonies and seething rhythms in an unbroken two-hour spasm of excitement.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2025
In the Nineties, the report became a staple in the bilious feedstock of right-wing militias, part of a slurry of propaganda that turned legitimate grievances into the conviction that FEMA agents in unmarked black helicopters were soon to enact a new world order.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
The death chamber is nine feet by twelve feet, painted a bilious turquoise.
—Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bilious
Tom Gliatto, People.com, 30 Apr. 2025
Under Nézet-Séguin, the musicians do the job spectacularly, releasing all those bilious harmonies and seething rhythms in an unbroken two-hour spasm of excitement.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2025
In the Nineties, the report became a staple in the bilious feedstock of right-wing militias, part of a slurry of propaganda that turned legitimate grievances into the conviction that FEMA agents in unmarked black helicopters were soon to enact a new world order.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
The death chamber is nine feet by twelve feet, painted a bilious turquoise.
—Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bilious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bilious
Adjective
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This can include feeling irritable, having a low frustration tolerance, feeling easily overstimulated, and having rapid shifts in emotion.—
Korin Miller,
SELF,
20 Jan. 2026
-
Accompanying Rayner through these daily adventures were the irritable duck Chelveston (named after his English bomber base) and the gentle dog puppet Cuddly Dudley.—
Michael Peregrine,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Grifters can be analyzed by affect (jolly, cold, angry, greedy, sad) and/or by gender.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Agents made several arrests in supermarket parking lots and at tamale stands while goading angry residents who confronted them and threatening to unleash tear gas.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Meanwhile, the commentator and controversialist Piers Morgan, an obsessively close observer and relentless critic of Meghan, inevitably waded in with his usual splenetic views.—
Sarah Lyall,
New York Times,
17 Sep. 2022
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And while there is enough splenetic wit and manic detail to generate obsessive fandom (entire sections of Web sites are dedicated to deciphering just what Kenny is mumbling), subjects like alien abduction, genetic engineering, and Kathie Lee are hardly original targets for satire.—
Chris Norris,
SPIN,
13 Aug. 2022
Adjective
-
Better is Danny Elfman’s spartan and fraught score, particularly the dyspeptic drums.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Jan. 2026
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But Kael sensed in her less dyspeptic moments that there was something special about Redford.—
Stephen Galloway,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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What’s lacking is acid, some tang, to cut through the excess of richness.—
Bill Addison,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Jan. 2026
-
What begins as a slow, lumbering triplet rhythm gradually morphs into a fleet and elegant quasi-acid jam; drums that start off gently turn tough and clattering before the whole thing fades out in a soft sunset glow.—
Philip Sherburne,
Pitchfork,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
My favorite movie of the year is a disagreeable but highly entertaining tale as exhausting as today’s politics with characters nobody could possibly root for.—
John Waters,
Vulture,
3 Dec. 2025
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Over the weekend, reports emerged that the higher tariffs followed a disagreeable Thursday phone call between Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Trump — which Swiss officials rejected, according to Reuters.—
Sophie Kiderlin,Jenni Reid,
CNBC,
4 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Ornery, bizarre, cantankerous, brilliant, talented, stubborn—all characters from our lives.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Jan. 2026
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In Christmas Vacation, Marshall portrayed Ellen's cantankerous father, Art Smith.—
Kate Hogan,
PEOPLE,
26 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Sometimes he’d be sent out to deal with the more ornery guests in an effort to calm them.—
Stephanie Breijo,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Jan. 2026
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With its abundance of concrete, startling interior views, and play of deep shadows, the design invokes the ornery inventiveness of Kahn and Paul Rudolph, combined with the corporate sleekness of MoMA’s most recent iterations by Yoshio Taniguchi and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bilious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bilious. Accessed 27 Jan. 2026.
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