Petulance

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Petulance \Pet"u*lance\, Petulancy \Pet"u*lan*cy\, n. [L.
     petulania: cf. F. p['e]tulance. See {Petulant}.]
     The quality or state of being petulant; temporary
     peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. "The
     petulancy of our words." --B. Jonson.
     [1913 Webster]


  
           Like pride in some, and like petulance in others.
                                                    --Clarendon.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown. --Cowper.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: {Petulance}, {Peevishness}. -- Peevishness implies the
          permanence of a sour, fretful temper; petulance implies
          temporary or capricious irritation.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  petulance
       n : an irritable petulant feeling [syn: {irritability}, {crossness},
            {fretfulness}, {fussiness}, {peevishness}, {choler}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  81 Moby Thesaurus words for "petulance":
     Faustianism, arbitrariness, beef, beefing, bellyache, bellyaching,
     bitch, bitching, caprice, capriciousness, cold comfort,
     complaining, complaint, crankiness, crotchetiness,
     destructive criticism, disappointment, discontent,
     discontentedness, discontentment, disgruntlement, dissatisfaction,
     dissatisfiedness, dissent, divine discontent, envy, fancifulness,
     fantasticality, faultfinding, freakishness, fretfulness, grievance,
     gripe, griping, groan, groaning, grouse, grousing, grumbling,
     holler, howl, humorsomeness, ill humor, kick, kicking, moodiness,
     motivelessness, murmuring, peeve, peevishness, pet peeve,
     pettishness, petulancy, protest, querulousness, quirkiness,
     rebelliousness, resentfulness, resentment, restiveness,
     restlessness, scolding, shrewishness, sniping, sourness, squawk,
     squawking, sulkiness, temperamentalness, uneasiness, unfulfillment,
     unhappiness, unpleasure, unsatisfaction, vexation of spirit,
     vixenishness, whimsicality, whimsicalness, whimsy, whining,
     yapping