Synonyms for pettishness
- noun
Most common
Definitions
- n. 1
The state of being pettish; peevishness, irritability.
Forms
- Plural
- pettishnesses → tempers, petulances, irritabilities, surlinesses…
Choose the right word
Impatience, fretfulness, irritation, peevishness, pettishness, petulance, and vexation express the slighter forms of anger. Fretfulness, pettishness, and peevishness are chronic states finding in any petty matter an occasion for their exercise.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- temper There's no need to get so angry. Keep your temper.
- surliness The old woman looked at me with surliness and mistrust.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| pettishness | rising | |
| temper | rising | |
| irritability | rising | |
| petulance | rising | |
| surliness | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 6 letters
- temper2
- 9 letters
- petulance3, surliness
- 11 letters
- peevishness, biliousness
- 12 letters
- irritability6, snappishness
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (temper2 = 2 syllables).