as in irritable
easily irritated or annoyed
a petulant and fussy man who is always blaming everyone else for his problems
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Recent Examples of petulant
Tom Hulce portrayed the musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a petulant, bratty young genius with a distinctive laugh, insatiable appetite and endless talent.
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Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2025
Heroine Elizabeth is famous for her own refusals, but she’s actually first caught in the middle of two acts of petulant male defiance.
—Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
That her response was aggressive, defensive and petulant is even better.
—Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
Julia Garner has the most subtly complex role as Justine, who trembles in one moment and snaps into petulant fit the next.
—Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for petulant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for petulant
Adjective
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Some of the consequences of owing your body sleep are readily apparent, like feeling drowsy, irritable, or brain-foggy, or catching seemingly every virus.—
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Accompanying Rayner through these daily adventures were the irritable duck Chelveston (named after his English bomber base) and the gentle dog puppet Cuddly Dudley.—
Adjective
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Maduro’s predecessor, the fiery Hugo Chávez, elected in 1998, expanded social services, including housing and education, thanks to the country’s oil bonanza, which generated revenues estimated at some $981 billion between 1999 and 2011 as crude prices soared.—
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White cast-iron chairs are perfectly positioned on a terrace to catch Stromboli’s volcanic smoke-show, and occasional fiery belch, in the distance over a lazy cocktail.—
Cite this Entry
“Petulant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/petulant. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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