moody
/ˈmuːdi
/adjective (moodier, moodiest)
1(Of a person) given to unpredictable changes of mood, especially sudden bouts of gloominess or sullenness: his moody adolescent brother...
- I love her, but at the moment she's moody, distant and unreachable.
- The smell in the wards and the moody patients made him keep his distance and caused him to lose his appetite for lunch.
- He also didn't seem paralysed, and while he was oddly moody in his last weeks, nothing seemed physically wrong.
Synonyms
unpredictable, temperamental, emotional, volatile, capricious, changeable, mercurial, unstable, fickle, flighty, inconstant, undependable, unsteady, erratic, fitful, impulsive;
sullen, sulky, morose, gloomy, glum, moping, mopey, mopish, depressed, dejected, despondent, blue, melancholic, doleful, dour, dismal, sour, saturnine, lugubrious, introspective
informal down in the dumps, down in the mouth
Northern English informal mardy
informal, dated mumpish
archaic kittle
1.1Giving an impression of melancholy or mystery: grainy film which gives a soft, moody effect...
- They're equally comfortable with energetic rock as they are with slow, moody and melancholy tunes.
- Blacks and shadow have great depth and detail with none of the moody lighting or fog effects lost.
- Even songs like The Joker sound moody and soulful.
Derivatives
moodily
/ adverb ...- He mooched up and down on the gravel path, moodily kicking the gravel and giving a good impersonation of a teenager looking for trouble.
- I'd much rather stare moodily out a window than make small talk.
- ‘You heard me,’ He spoke moodily, not bothering to look at me.
moodiness
/ noun ...- We will try not to let anger, resentment, or moodiness get the upper hand in the atmosphere of our home.
- A lack of sleep may lead to moodiness, irritability and a tendency to fly off the handle.
- However, the classic symptoms of drug mis-use are having unusually late hours, moodiness and secretive behaviour.
Origin
Old English mōdig 'brave or wilful' (see mood1, -y1).
In Anglo-Saxon times if you were moody you were brave, passionate, or strong-willed. The word came from mod source of mood, which had a range of meanings including ‘mind’, ‘thought,’ and ‘fierceness’. From this moody developed to mean ‘angry’ and by the 13th century had developed the modern sense.