Skip to main content
ratchety

ratchety

9.3
Being easily annoyed and bad-tempered, often showing impatience
  • adjective
  • Informal
: irritable
  • Lack of coffee in the morning always makes me feel a bit ratchety at work.

Examples

  • The children knew to avoid their ratchety neighbor when he was working in the yard.

  • After a long day without rest, she became quite ratchety and snapped at her friends.

  • She was feeling quite ratchety after a long day at work.

  • Why is he so ratchety today?

  • After a long day at the office, she became ratchety and snapped at her coworkers.

  • Everyone tiptoed around the ratchety woman next door, especially on her bad days.

  • If I don't get my morning coffee, I tend to feel a bit ratchety and short-tempered.

Synonyms

cranky
vsratchety
108 4.2

Easily annoyed and upset when tired or hungry

is moodier and shows more persistent bad mood
irritable
vsratchety
30 3.7

Quick to become annoyed or angry

is harsher, adding bad temper and visible crankiness
crabby
vsratchety
  • Informal
25 5.4

Feeling easily annoyed and in a bad mood

is more sharply bad tempered and impatient in reactions
pissy
vsratchety
  • Offensive
22 9.6

Quick to become annoyed and show a bad mood

is similar but less rude and more broadly cranky
ornery
vsratchety
  • Informal
22 8.5

Being bad-tempered and stubborn, often hard to deal with

is more about short impatience rather than stubborn difficulty
petulant
vsratchety
20 8.2

Acting easily annoyed and impatient about small things

is more adult and broadly bad tempered rather than petty
cantankerous
vsratchety
9 8.6

Gets angry easily and often argues with people

is mainly irritable and impatient, not necessarily argumentative
crotchety
vsratchety
6 8.8

Often in a bad mood and easily annoyed by small things

is similar but more straightforwardly bad tempered and cranky
short-tempered
vsratchety
6 4.2

Quick to get angry or easily annoyed

is more broadly bad tempered and often consistently irritable
churlish
vsratchety
  • Formal
5 8.5

Rude and unkind in a way that upsets people

is less mean and more focused on impatience and crankiness
irascible
vsratchety
  • Formal
5 8.6

Quick to become angry, often at small things

is less formal and stresses daily impatience and crankiness
ill-tempered
vsratchety
4 5.7

Easily annoyed and quick to get angry

adds sharper irritability and more visible bad temper
shirty
vsratchety
  • Offensive
2 9.1

Gets angry easily about small things

is similar but less regional and more generally cranky
quick-tempered
vsratchety
2 6.0

To become angry quickly and easily

is similar but also shows ongoing cranky impatience
snorty
vsratchety
  • UK
1 9.7

Feeling annoyed and in a bad mood

is broader and not limited to regional informal speech
stroppy
vsratchety
  • UK
1 9.8

Easily annoyed and likely to argue or be unhelpful

is mainly about being bad tempered and impatient, not arguing
narky
vsratchety
  • UK
1 9.9

Easily annoyed and quick to complain about small things

is more about overall bad temper and visible impatience
crankish
vsratchety
1 8.3

Becoming easily annoyed and acting in a bad-tempered way

focuses more on plain bad temper and impatience
a bit scorpy
vsratchety
  • Informal
9.9

Being a little angry and easily annoyed with people

is stronger, showing clearer bad temper and impatience

Antonyms

680 1.0

Not showing strong feelings and being very still

311 1.9

Able to stay calm and not get annoyed when waiting

How Irritable

irascible
  • Formal
5 8.6
ratchety
  • Informal
9.3
irritable
30 3.7
cranky
108 4.2
touchy
31 4.9

Surface Forms

ratchety positive

Morphology

ratchety = ratchet (semi-transparent) = ratchet + y

Formally 'ratchet' + '-y' is clear, but the meaning 'bad-tempered, irritable' is a figurative or folk extension (and possibly influenced by 'ratty'), so the sense is not directly derivable for average learners.

Etymology

Ratchety is linked to the tool ratchet, which makes quick, harsh clicks. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine a person's mood making short, sharp snaps like that tool, so ratchety means 'bad-tempered' or easily annoyed.