pettishness
- noun
- /ˈpɛtɪʃnəs/
- The child's pettishness was evident when she threw a tantrum over not getting the toy she wanted.
Examples
-
He displayed his pettishness when he refused to join the game just because his friend didn't let him choose first.
-
Her constant nagging about small details showed a level of pettishness that frustrated everyone in the meeting.
-
Given how grievous the rest of these sins are, to complain about the book's repackaging may seem like mere pettishness.
Blog text (12)
Synonyms
A sudden short burst of anger
Being easily annoyed or quick to become angry
Being easily annoyed and acting childish
Being easily annoyed and acting in odd, fussy ways
A way of behaving that is angry and unfriendly
A tendency to become easily annoyed and impatient
A mood of being easily annoyed and bad-tempered
A habit of giving short, angry answers when annoyed
A state of being easily upset or hard to please
A tendency to be easily upset by small remarks or criticism
Often being bad-tempered and hard to please
A tendency to be odd, fussy, or easily annoyed
A tendency to become angry easily
Antonyms
How Irritable
Surface Forms
Morphology
pettishness = pettish (transparent) = pet + ish + ness
The suffix '-ness' is transparently added to form a noun indicating the state or quality of being pettish.
Etymology
Pettishness comes from pettish, which is related to petty ('small') and pet ('favored' or 'spoiled'). A helpful way to remember pettishness is to imagine a small, spoiled 'pet' who quickly gets annoyed over little things, which explains why the word means being easily irritated or bad-tempered in a childish way.