peevish Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite easily irritated or annoyed
    peckish; nettlesome; testy; tetchy; petulant; cranky; techy; fractious; irritable; scratchy; pettish.
    • an incorrigibly fractious young man
    • not the least nettlesome of his countrymen

WordNet


Pee"vish adjective
Etymology
OE. pevische; of uncertain origin, perh. from a word imitative of the noise made by fretful children + -ish.
Definitions
  1. Habitually fretful; easily vexed or fretted; hard to please; apt to complain; querulous; petulant. "Her peevish babe." Wordsworth.
    She is peevish, sullen, froward. Shak.
  2. Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable dissatisfaction; as, a peevish answer.
  3. Silly; childish; trifling. Obs.
    To send such peevish tokens to a king. Shak.
    Syn. -- Querulous; petulant; cross; ill-tempered; testy; captious; discontented. See Fretful.

Webster 1913