as in irritable
easily irritated or annoyed
a pettish baby who always seemed to be crying
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Recent Examples of pettish
At best, Harsin is a pettish version of Michael Scott at Dunder Mifflin, a poor manager of people selling reams of paper out of an office building at the dawn of our digital age.
—
Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 9 Feb. 2022
Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 9 Feb. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pettish
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
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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
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As one of Cohen's most frequent guests on his late-night talk show Watch What Happens Live, Rapaport has generated some of its most viral and debated moments, like a fiery 2018 spat between the actor and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Jan. 2026
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Nature—and its subtlest micro-shifts—are the main protagonists, from the green humidity of summer, the sound of cicadas ringing thick in the air to the fiery blaze of autumn leaves (courtesy of approximately 3,000 Japanese maple trees) and the fresh cloud-like bursts of springtime sakura.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pettish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pettish. Accessed 25 Jan. 2026.
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