waspish
/ˈwɒspɪʃ
/adjective
Readily expressing anger or irritation: he had a waspish tongue...
- That should have ended it, except that certain newspapers have grown irritable and waspish with Tony Blair.
- Her waspish tongue has already landed her in trouble.
- On reflection, however, I feel this would be unlikely, because I cannot be alone in considering his regular waspish observations positive endorsement of a production.
Synonyms
irritable, touchy, testy, irascible, cross, snappish, cantankerous, splenetic, short-tempered, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, foul-tempered, moody, crabbed, crotchety, grumpy, huffy, ratty, petulant, peevish, querulous, angry, sharp
informal grouchy
Northern English informal mardy
Derivatives
waspishly
/ adverb ...- Nevertheless, you don't hear jokes about equine looks, nor waspishly disparaging put-downs as often as you used to.
- ‘I assume this procedure is familiar to you,’ he said waspishly.
- ‘Fine, get fat then,’ I said waspishly, glaring at him.
waspishness
- Are their early waspish criticisms insincere and their later affirmations the real deal, or are the affirmations the fakery and the waspishness the genuine thing?
- ‘Oh, no, I'm not stung by his waspishness, James’ Miranda purred playfully, ‘and yes, I would absolutely love to be walked back to my beach towel.’
- And if there's a hint of waspishness involved, that might provide even more of a buzz…
- flip-flopper
- flip one's lid (or one's wig)
- flippancy
- flippant
- flippantly
- flipper
- Flipper, Henry Ossian
- flip phone
- flipping
- flippy
- flippy-floppy
- flip side
- flip someone the bird (or flip the bird)
- flip the script
- flip through
- flip-top
- flirt
- flirtation
- flirtatious
- flirtatiously
- flirtatiousness
- flirty
- flit
- flitch
- flitch beam