as in irritable
easily irritated or annoyed
a petulant and fussy man who is always blaming everyone else for his problems
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Recent Examples of petulant
This petulant man, who wields awesome power, also has the nuclear codes.
—
Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 Jan. 2026
What Laxe has orchestrated is not a simplistic clash of cultures but a collective upending of fortunes in which the rulings of fate, or of Allah, prove too cruel and too permanent to trigger a petulant blame game.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2025
The petulant, back-stabby intrigue between various parties here sometimes makes the hero rather unsympathetic, with photogenic singer-actor Pena Hernandez’s puppyish turn not conveying a great deal of complexity, let alone artistic o intellectual potential.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 Oct. 2025
Tom Hulce portrayed the musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a petulant, bratty young genius with a distinctive laugh, insatiable appetite and endless talent.
—Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for petulant
Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 Jan. 2026
What Laxe has orchestrated is not a simplistic clash of cultures but a collective upending of fortunes in which the rulings of fate, or of Allah, prove too cruel and too permanent to trigger a petulant blame game.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2025
The petulant, back-stabby intrigue between various parties here sometimes makes the hero rather unsympathetic, with photogenic singer-actor Pena Hernandez’s puppyish turn not conveying a great deal of complexity, let alone artistic o intellectual potential.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 Oct. 2025
Tom Hulce portrayed the musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a petulant, bratty young genius with a distinctive laugh, insatiable appetite and endless talent.
—Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for petulant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for petulant
Adjective
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Rather than get irritable online, Medeiros did something positive about it.—
Dan Medeiros,
The Herald News,
27 Feb. 2026
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Manic episodes are described as prolonged periods of mood instability, in which a person can experience extreme increases in energy or euphoria, or alternatively, feel depressed or unusually irritable.—
Edward Segarra,
USA Today,
24 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The pair relished the fiery spectacle.—
Adam Ciralsky,
Vanity Fair,
19 Mar. 2026
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Six police officers and a semi-truck driver have been released from a local hospital after a fiery crash involving a car and a semi-truck Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of Ford Road and Haggerty Road, near Interstate 275, in Canton.—
Joseph Buczek,
CBS News,
19 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Petulant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/petulant. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
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