as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
an ill-tempered cat will scratch with little provocation
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Recent Examples of ill-tempered
On balance, however, Billy Wagner, an imposing 6-foot-6 and 275 pounds, came off as brash and blustery, foul-mouthed and ill-tempered in witness testimony.
—
Patricia Gallagher Newberry, The Enquirer, 12 Dec. 2024
Lemon's interview with Musk delves into numerous topics, ranging from the entrepreneur's views on race to X's loss of advertisers over his antisemitic comments, with Musk growing increasingly ill-tempered with Lemon over the course of the discussion.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 18 Mar. 2024
If the person in charge is ill-tempered, thrives on conflict, and easily persuaded, problems are made worse.
—Matthew Continetti, National Review, 27 May 2023
Patricia Gallagher Newberry, The Enquirer, 12 Dec. 2024
Lemon's interview with Musk delves into numerous topics, ranging from the entrepreneur's views on race to X's loss of advertisers over his antisemitic comments, with Musk growing increasingly ill-tempered with Lemon over the course of the discussion.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 18 Mar. 2024
If the person in charge is ill-tempered, thrives on conflict, and easily persuaded, problems are made worse.
—Matthew Continetti, National Review, 27 May 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ill-tempered
Adjective
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By the end, Liverpool’s players seemed tired and Klopp was irritable, clearly in need of a rest.—
Simon Hughes,
The Athletic,
20 Jan. 2025
-
The trio’s sixth record is charmingly irritable in both of its moods: hopped up on fluffy coffee while cracking baseball jokes, or dragging out downbeats and lamenting power structures to goad listeners with mounting anticipation.—
Madison Bloom,
Pitchfork,
4 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
The return of Donald Trump is readily evident today with reporters once again waking up to an angry presidential social media post, this time over a moment that went viral.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
22 Jan. 2025
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Trump refused to accept Biden's victory in the 2020 election and his animosity toward Biden culminated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, during which mobs of angry Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol after Trump urged them to stop Congress from certifying Biden's electoral victory.—
Kristen Waggoner,
Newsweek,
22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Sunrise on the Reaping will follow a young Haymitch, who later becomes the cantankerous mentor of District 12’s famous tributes.—
Lizz Schumer,
People.com,
18 Jan. 2025
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During his first term, Mr. Trump functioned less as a coach calling plays and more as a cantankerous owner demanding that his team throw out the entire playbook in the fourth quarter.—
Catie Edmondson,
New York Times,
10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The offensive line, in Monken’s estimation, is the most talented and possibly most ornery unit he’s had at West Point, all the way down to wrestling each other to settle arguments about who’s tougher.—
Brian Hamilton,
The Athletic,
21 Nov. 2024
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They’re led by John Dutton III, an ornery character who nevertheless carries the kind of gravitas that only a veteran movie star like Kevin Costner can bring.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
18 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Sometimes that means confronting disagreeable people.—
David Plazas,
The Tennessean,
24 Apr. 2024
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The most important reason to avoid obsessing over China’s disagreeable regime, however, is that this fixation threatens a core U.S. advantage: Washington’s wide network of partners and allies.—
Evan S. Medeiros,
Foreign Affairs,
8 July 2021
Adjective
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That criticism, along with other struggles, has seemingly influenced Davis to be in a surly and unpredictable mood over the past two months.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes,
12 Jan. 2025
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Nero is a cynical and surly assassin who is betrayed by his master and long-term ally.—
Anthony D'Alessandro,
Deadline,
19 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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And while there is enough splenetic wit and manic detail to generate obsessive fandom (entire sections of Web sites are dedicated to deciphering just what Kenny is mumbling), subjects like alien abduction, genetic engineering, and Kathie Lee are hardly original targets for satire.—
Chris Norris,
SPIN,
13 Aug. 2022
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Meanwhile, the commentator and controversialist Piers Morgan, an obsessively close observer and relentless critic of Meghan, inevitably waded in with his usual splenetic views.—
Sarah Lyall,
New York Times,
17 Sep. 2022
Adjective
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Everyone within her radius bears the germophobe’s wrath, with the only one who can occasionally pierce through her bilious anger being her upbeat hair-stylist sister Chantal (Michelle Austin), a mother of two vibrant daughters.—
Randy Myers,
The Mercury News,
10 Jan. 2025
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The piece ran under an illustration of a black spatula dripping sinister goblets of melting plastic, against a background of bilious green.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near ill-tempered
Cite this Entry
“Ill-tempered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ill-tempered. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.
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