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yappy

yappy

6 7.7
Talking or barking a lot in a high, annoying voice
  • adjective
  • /ˈjæpi/
  • Informal
: charlatán
  • Jack self-consciously stops singing as Elizabeth Peterson, in her 60s, wearing a mink coat, gets on the elevator carrying a yappy little dog.
  • yappy puppy
  • yappy dog
  • little yappy

They're running and a dog, a yappy dog runs out onto the track and the horse trips over the dog and the guy dies.

Examples

  • She found her neighbor's constantly yappy dog to be quite annoying.

  • - Oh, with the yappy little dog?

  • We also have a dog; she can be yappy.

    Blog text (34)
  • I live in WI with my awesome wife and two yappy dogs.

    Blog text (5)
  • It doesn't need to be a big one, just a yappy one.

    Blog text (4)
  • We have a 10-month-old Bichon who is yappy as well, and Scarlet is already used to it.

    Blog text (34)
  • He doesn't bite, but he's a bit yappy with strangers.

  • It's a Pomeranian, one of those yappy little lap dogs—but seen from any perspective, it's something out of a horror movie.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The little dog was yappy, barking loudly at every passerby.

  • Every time someone knocked on the door, their yappy puppy would start barking excitedly.

Synonyms

chattery
vsyappy
  • Informal
1 5.4

Talking a lot in a friendly, lively way

is higher pitched and often feels annoying to listeners

Antonyms

∞ 1.0

Not making much noise

680 1.0

Not showing strong feelings and being very still

How Noisy

shrill
33 4.8
yappy
  • Informal
6 7.7
loud
775 1.0
soft-spoken
20 3.9
silent
278 1.0

Surface Forms

yappy positive
yappier comparative
yappiest superlative

Morphology

yappy = yap (transparent) = yap + y

The adjective is a regular adjectival formation from 'yap' (to bark/talk) + '-y', meaning prone to or characterized by yapping.

Etymology

Yappy comes from the short bark yap, a sound word that copies a quick, high 'bark', plus the ending -y which means 'full of' or 'tending to'. So something called yappy 'barks' or talks a lot in a high, often annoying voice.