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snappish

snappish

2 7.2
Speaking in a short, angry way because you are annoyed
  • adjective
  • /ˈsnæpɪʃ/
: irritable
  • His snappish remarks often hurt his friends' feelings.
  • say something snappish
  • sounding snappish

Examples

  • She tends to be snappish when she is tired and needs more coffee.

  • I didn't mean to seem snappish.

  • She had to fight the urge to say something snappish and mean.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • "Give it a rest, Roy," Alice said, sounding snappish.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • When someone is hit with circumstances such as these at the tender age of sixteen, she can become cynical and snappish.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Bithras fell into a dark and snappish mood at the end of a grueling day of office-hopping.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • After a long day at work, he became snappish with his family.

Synonyms

snappy
vssnappish
24 5.8

Speaking quickly and angrily, showing irritation or impatience

has identical meaning but is the longer or less common form
pissy
vssnappish
  • Offensive
22 9.6

Quick to become annoyed and show a bad mood

is about abrupt irritated speaking rather than general petty mood
snippy
vssnappish
18 6.7

Being short and rude in the way someone speaks

tends to be abrupt and irritable rather than openly insulting
brusque
vssnappish
7 7.7

Rude and very short when speaking or acting

is more about irritable speech rather than only brief bluntness
crotchety
vssnappish
6 8.8

Often in a bad mood and easily annoyed by small things

focuses on sharp or abrupt speech rather than eccentric moodiness
short-tempered
vssnappish
6 4.2

Quick to get angry or easily annoyed

focuses on abrupt speech tendency rather than general quick anger
quick-tempered
vssnappish
2 6.0

To become angry quickly and easily

is about speaking sharply when annoyed rather than sudden anger
waspish
vssnappish
1 8.1

Easily annoyed and quick to speak sharply

is the tendency to speak abruptly especially when easily annoyed
snorty
vssnappish
  • UK
1 9.7

Feeling annoyed and in a bad mood

is specifically about speaking abruptly when feeling annoyed
chippy
vssnappish
  • UK
1 9.1

Being easily annoyed and quick to feel offended

tends to speak abruptly from irritation rather than being easily offended
stroppy
vssnappish
  • UK
1 9.8

Easily annoyed and likely to argue or be unhelpful

is mainly about sudden irritable speech rather than general argumentativeness
narky
vssnappish
  • UK
1 9.9

Having a sharp, unfriendly tone that criticizes others

tends to be abrupt and irritable without the sharp sarcasm
tonguey
vssnappish
  • Informal
1 8.9

Quick to say sharp things that hurt

is irritable abrupt speech but without the deliberate cutting remarks
growly
vssnappish
  • Informal
1 7.1

Showing irritation and wanting to be left alone

is about abrupt irritable speech rather than general sulky mood or sound
rough-spoken
vssnappish
1 7.5

A person who speaks in a rude, harsh way

focuses on irritation and abruptness rather than coarse speech

Antonyms

9 4.0

Being careful and polite when speaking to avoid hurting people

How Irritable

touchy
31 4.9
snappish
2 7.2
irritable
30 3.7

Surface Forms

snappish positive
snappier comparative
snappiest superlative

Morphology

snappish = snap (transparent) = snap + ish

Formed by the productive suffix '-ish' added to 'snap', yielding 'tending to snap' which is directly inferable from the base verb.

Etymology

The word snappish comes from snap, a short, sharp sound or quick action, and the ending -ish, which means 'somewhat' or 'tending to'. Think of someone 'snapping' when annoyed; their words are short and sharp, so snappish means being quick to speak in an annoyed or rude way.