crossness
1
8.1
- noun
- /ˈkrɔs.nəs/
- I could feel her crossness rising as she waited in the long line at the store.
Examples
-
My good man, I know that, but a little kraut crossness won't stop me now.
-
So much so, I blamed my husband in the ensuing phone call to the mattress company, and with lots of eye rolling and pretend-crossness at his incompetence (sorry babe), I convinced them to exchange it for the correct size.
Blog text (19) -
A certain crossness—and he said, "All right, all right; can it; Jesus!"—and she said, "You don't have to become insulting," and he said, "How was I?"—and she said, "Just now, in what you said; another example of what I meant about the bad feelings coming from you," and he said, "I'm sorry then."
Fiction book (1997) -
She often takes her crossness out on her family when she's tired and stressed.
-
His crossness was evident when he snapped at everyone during the meeting.
Synonyms
12
4.2
Being easily annoyed or quick to become angry
4
9.0
Being easily annoyed and acting childish
3
6.0
Being easily annoyed and acting in odd, fussy ways
1
7.3
A tendency to become easily annoyed and impatient
1
5.7
A state of being easily upset or hard to please
1
9.3
A tendency to become angry quickly
1
5.5
A mood of being easily annoyed and bad-tempered
1
4.0
A state of being easily annoyed and in a bad mood
1
9.9
A tendency to become angry easily
1
7.7
A feeling of being nervous, annoyed, or easily upset
Often being bad-tempered and hard to please
Antonyms
How Annoyed
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word crossness comes from the familiar adjective cross, which means 'angry' or 'annoyed'. Think of someone with a 'cross' face giving short answers, and crossness is that mood of being easily annoyed.