irascible
/ɪˈrasɪb(ə)l
/adjective
Having or showing a tendency to be easily angered: an irascible and difficult man...
- But when this self-involvement is threatened, well, then we see how irascible, irritable and bad tempered stoners can be.
- Luc patiently visits his brother, uncomplainingly sticking by the bedside of this difficult and irascible man when everyone else deserts him.
- Yet he was famously thin-skinned and irascible, as I have good reason to remember, if any criticism became directed at himself.
Synonyms
irritable, quick-tempered, short-tempered, bad-tempered, ill-tempered, hot-tempered, thin-skinned, snappy, snappish, tetchy, testy, touchy, edgy, crabby, waspish, dyspeptic;
surly, cross, crusty, crabbed, grouchy, crotchety, cantankerous, curmudgeonly, ill-natured, ill-humoured, peevish, querulous, captious, fractious, bilious
informal narky, prickly, ratty, hot under the collar
rare iracund, iracundulous
Derivatives
irascibility
/ noun ...- She is at once an intellectual giant, the personification of hostile irascibility, and a kind and gentle great-grandmother.
- Wendy is more pragmatic, gently chiding staff who do not serve customers quickly enough, and acting as an emollient to those whose egos have been bruised by her father's irascibility.
- The only noticeable change was in his growing irascibility with the passing years.
irascibly
/ adverb ...- How selfish he must think I am, she thought irascibly, tugging her long slender fingers through her hair to unravel the lacquered knots.
- There's more chance then of a top dog being snapped at its customised boots by a mongrel that irascibly, annoyingly, insistently does not know its place.
- ‘There wasn't a wall here before, last time I checked,’ I mutter irascibly into the hard concrete and slumped into the ground.
Origin
Late Middle English: via French from late Latin irascibilis, from Latin irasci 'grow angry', from ira 'anger'.