as in petulant
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Recent Examples of stroppy
The team’s cohesion and ability to handle adversity are worlds apart from the stroppy exits that defined Mauricio Pochettino’s time managing a team of Galacticos.
—
Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
Yet the Brazilian proceeded to show how Pereira’s faith was misplaced, first with a stroppy performance at Chelsea that prompted his head coach to publicly criticise his body language and then with his second violent meltdown of the season, against Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez in the FA Cup.
—Steve Madeley, New York Times, 28 May 2025
Ramaswamy stole a page from Trump’s 2016 playbook, emerging as a stroppy candidate challenging the status quo of Washington.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2023
All of a sudden the show’s main obsession, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, is no longer a stroppy teenager, and she’s no longer portrayed by Milly Alcock.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2022
Madison makes for a peculiar heroine; her performance as a realistically stroppy adolescent, in possession of a weariness and cynicism far beyond her years, recalls Karen Kilgariff playing a child in an improv scene.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 7 Oct. 2022
But even if Brexit reflects Britain’s carefree pensioners—and some evidence suggests that despite being older, Brexit voters were stroppier than average—there is little sign of such an age effect elsewhere.
—The Economist, 11 July 2019
Indeed, a video on AS' website shows the marksman getting extremely stroppy when he is told to conduct some acceleration drills alone while his fellow players get on with another session.
—SI.com, 12 Oct. 2017
Dembele is allegedly refusing to return to Dortmund until the situation is resolved by all parties, but the German top flight outfit are standing firm over their stroppy star's stance.
—SI.com, 12 Aug. 2017
Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
Yet the Brazilian proceeded to show how Pereira’s faith was misplaced, first with a stroppy performance at Chelsea that prompted his head coach to publicly criticise his body language and then with his second violent meltdown of the season, against Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez in the FA Cup.
—Steve Madeley, New York Times, 28 May 2025
Ramaswamy stole a page from Trump’s 2016 playbook, emerging as a stroppy candidate challenging the status quo of Washington.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2023
All of a sudden the show’s main obsession, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, is no longer a stroppy teenager, and she’s no longer portrayed by Milly Alcock.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2022
Madison makes for a peculiar heroine; her performance as a realistically stroppy adolescent, in possession of a weariness and cynicism far beyond her years, recalls Karen Kilgariff playing a child in an improv scene.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 7 Oct. 2022
But even if Brexit reflects Britain’s carefree pensioners—and some evidence suggests that despite being older, Brexit voters were stroppier than average—there is little sign of such an age effect elsewhere.
—The Economist, 11 July 2019
Indeed, a video on AS' website shows the marksman getting extremely stroppy when he is told to conduct some acceleration drills alone while his fellow players get on with another session.
—SI.com, 12 Oct. 2017
Dembele is allegedly refusing to return to Dortmund until the situation is resolved by all parties, but the German top flight outfit are standing firm over their stroppy star's stance.
—SI.com, 12 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stroppy
Adjective
-
One skeptical spectator who leaves in disgust suffers an accident while driving away, presumably caused by the petulant master’s psychic powers.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
3 Aug. 2025
-
But there has always been a playfulness to Dončić, an awareness of pleasure, even in his most petulant moments.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
3 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Not surprisingly, then, these films are usually littered with bums and losers — people who really should have moved on with their lives — possessing irritable personalities, cynical worldviews, or hilarious delusions of grandeur.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
25 July 2025
-
People become irritable, withdrawn, or hyper-independent.—
Barnaby Lashbrooke,
Forbes.com,
23 June 2025
Adjective
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At Castle Leathers, Murtagh is grumpy and sulking because Ellen has been promised to another… which Brian definitely did not know.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
15 Aug. 2025
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Golden smiled for the picture but made a grumpy face in a second photo, sitting alongside her older sister, Sterling.—
Hannah Sacks,
People.com,
15 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Asked whether Skydance, which is in the process of buying Paramount Global, parent company of his network Comedy Central, would cancel the irascible talk show, Stewart essentially shrugged his shoulders.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
17 July 2025
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Where to watch: Netflix 'Madea's Destination Wedding' (July 11) Tyler Perry writes, directs and reprises his signature role in the comedy as the elderly and irascible Madea.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
13 May 2025
Adjective
-
When Vivian Powers went to foster a new kitten, she was pulled in by a cat's grouchy face.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 July 2025
-
Frye's comic foil was a grouchy widower played by George Gaynes, a character actor with credits going back 20 years who had just scored memorable roles in Tootsie and the Police Academy series.—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
14 May 2025
Adjective
-
Lily, as played by Sophia Hammons, has a distinctive snappish downbeat British-princess personality; some of it is her accent, some of it her entitled ‘tude.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
5 Aug. 2025
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Harriette Cole: My twins are getting snappish over college acceptance Asking Eric: A cemetery guard ruined my father’s funeral, and that was just the start This includes stating your belief that your explanations may not be believed.—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
7 May 2025
Adjective
-
While grunge seemed peevish, grim, defeatist, and dour—and extended the kind of us-vs.-them culture most famously centered by the indie rock of the ’80s and ’90s, Oasis was celebratory, communal, and democratic while exploring themes of alienation, escape, and fantasies of triumph.—
Corey Seymour,
Vogue,
28 July 2025
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Thousands of people — displaced by disaster, their past lives gone up in smoke — are hostage to the whims of a peevish president who always puts his feelings first and cares nothing for the greater good.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Los Angeles Times,
22 June 2025
Adjective
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As the Platinum Chalice status holder, Adomian adopts an old man’s slow gait and crotchety American geriatric voice to yet another ovation.—
John Roy,
Vulture,
8 May 2025
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Patrick is crotchety and dismissive of their overtures at first, but Bob and Jean talk him around with their passionate belief in the project and intriguing early research.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Stroppy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stroppy. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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