Synonyms for petulance
Most common
irritability fussiness sourness peevishness moodiness caprice
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Irritability
irritability, fussiness, sourness, peevishness, fretfulness, crossness, pettishness, choler
2. Moodiness — childish impatience or sulkiness; testiness
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
Childish impatience or sulkiness; testiness.
Forms
- Plural
- petulances → irritabilities, fussinesses, sournesses, peevishnesses…
Choose the right word
Impatience, fretfulness, irritation, peevishness, pettishness, petulance, and vexation express the slighter forms of anger. Irritation, petulance, and vexation are temporary and for immediate cause.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- sourness Just looking at a lemon makes one feel the sourness in one's mouth.
- caprice It was simply caprice that led them to shoplift.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| petulance | rising | |
| irritability | rising | |
| sourness | rising | |
| fussiness | rising | |
| peevishness | rising | |
| caprice | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 6 letters
- choler
- 7 letters
- caprice2
- 8 letters
- sourness
- 9 letters
- moodiness, fussiness, crossness
- 10 letters
- tetchiness
- 11 letters
- peevishness, fretfulness, pettishness
- 12 letters
- irritability6
- 14 letters
- capriciousness
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (caprice2 = 2 syllables).