How to Use petulant in a Sentence

petulant

adjective

• Her tone was petulant and angry.
• The rest of the sports world sees a petulant young star and a coach, who might be in over his head.
  — Kent Somers, AZCentral.com, 27 Oct. 2022
• Fessy is left alone in the volcano to whine like a petulant child.
  — Kyndall Cunningham, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2021
• And as a petulant curator of my own tastes, this was enough to turn my nose at it.
  — Bolu Babalola, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 May 2021
• But, of course, the petulant president would rather take his lectern and stay home.
  — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 8 Oct. 2020
• But that car was a boost bomb, with torque steer to shame a Saab and the demeanor of a petulant teenager.
  — Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 20 Nov. 2020
• This is more than the frustrated outburst of a petulant woman.
  — Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2021
• She's come off spoiled, petulant and worst of all privileged.
  — Joey Guerra, Houston Chronicle, 8 Feb. 2018
• Like a petulant child tired of losing, Beijing tossed the entire thing into the garbage bin.
  — Timothy McLaughlin, The Atlantic, 20 Dec. 2021
• So does a trio of warbling rocks: petulant, stubborn creatures who insist on the rules.
  — Justin Davidson, Vulture, 24 Nov. 2021
• Keep the customer happy no matter how ridiculous or petulant the request.
  — Wired Staff, WIRED, 1 Nov. 2002
• His petulant begging for a drop at the Memorial did not help matters).
  — Daniel Rapaport, SI.com, 6 Aug. 2019
• To deny them gifts on birthdays and Christmas because of it would be petulant and a mistake.
  — Abigail Van Buren, oregonlive, 22 Dec. 2020
• The film doesn’t make any effort to explain why Alma loves this petulant genius.
  — Lindsey Bahr, kansascity, 18 Jan. 2018
• Wu can render a petulant scowl hilarious by allowing it to linger on her face past the point of excess.
  — Jiayang Fan, The New Yorker, 16 Sep. 2019
• At first the cephalopods, like petulant tots, pulled off the glasses—until scientists plied them with treats: live shrimps.
  — National Geographic, 19 May 2020
• Do they ever: A petulant thumb sucker gets his appendages snipped off.
  — David L. Coddon, sandiegouniontribune.com, 28 May 2017
• The incident proved yet again this petulant country has forgotten how to use its inside voice and how to play well with each other.
  — Roy Bragg, San Antonio Express-News, 17 May 2018
• Trump’s term that maybe the petulant and mean-spirited president would grow and become a better man.
  — Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2022
• When asked, his responses boil down to the equivalent of a one-word answer from a petulant child: Mine!
  — Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 13 June 2023
• In Peru, this event was widely perceived as the petulant betrayal of a sore loser.
  — Marcela Valdes, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2018
• As the emotional child in his family, he was imbued with a streak of petulant darkness, which runs subtly through all of his work.
  — Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 7 Jan. 2020
• Heath said that contract dispute shouldn’t raise a flag on Molino being petulant.
  — Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 28 Feb. 2017
• Nell got to see me as a daughter—witnessing flashes of my grumpy and petulant teenage self, or my mother brushing loose strands of hair out of my face.
  — Alex Postman, CNT, 7 Sep. 2017
• But for this petulant group, another midlife crisis is always lurking around the corner.
  — Andrew R. Chow, New York Times, 17 June 2018
• And lost in this debate is the simple fact that Jarrar behaved like an obnoxious, petulant child.
  — Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press, 22 Apr. 2018
• By day two Goodman, up to then a shuffling, silent, and petulant presence slumped at the end of the defense table, had a snap in his step.
  — Kevin Conley, Town & Country, 24 Dec. 2012
• Smith's Dickinson, though, is nothing short of petulant teen rebel.
  — Robyn Bahr, Billboard, 28 Oct. 2019
• His over-the-top performance is a blend of a petulant child and Kim Jong-Un, with haircut to match.
  — Theodore P. Mahne, NOLA.com, 26 Oct. 2017
• Bryant, by contrast, could be alternately charming and petulant, sitting at the back of the team bus with headphones clamped over his ears.
  — David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2020

Last Updated: 5 Apr 2024