as in irritable
easily irritated or annoyed
that coworker would be easier to get along with if she weren't so testy all the time
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Recent Examples of testy
In a testy and often heated hearing Wednesday, FCC chair Brendan Carr did not take responsibility for his statements about Jimmy Kimmel ahead of the host’s late night show being pulled from the air.
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Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 17 Dec. 2025
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt cited a testy exchange with CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins on Thursday as reason enough for the cable channel to receive new ownership.
—Ryan Mancini, The Hill, 11 Dec. 2025
Things got testy shortly thereafter.
—Miami Herald, 30 Nov. 2025
Often the player demands a trade, whether owing to clashes with the coaching staff, testy contract negotiations, or a desire to play for a team in a better position to contend for a championship.
—Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for testy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for testy
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
“Testy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/testy. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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