 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fretful \Fret"ful\, adjective [See 2d {Fret}.] Disposed to fret; ill-humored; peevish; angry; in a state of vexation; as, a fretful temper. -- {Fret"ful*ly}, adverb -- {Fret"ful*ness}, noun
Syn: Peevish; ill-humored; ill-natured; irritable; waspish; captious; petulant; splenetic; spleeny; passionate; angry.
Usage: {Fretful}, {Peevish}, {Cross}. These words all indicate an unamiable working and expression of temper. Peevish marks more especially the inward spirit: a peevish man is always ready to find fault. Fretful points rather to the outward act, and marks a complaining impatience: sickly children are apt to be fretful. Crossness is peevishness mingled with vexation or anger.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
fretful
adjective
1: unable to relax or be still; "a constant fretful stamping of hooves"; "itchy for excitement"; "a restless child" [syn: {fidgety}, {itchy}, {restless}]
2: habitually complaining; "a whining child" [syn: {querulous}, {whiney}, {whining(a)}, {whiny}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
93 Moby Thesaurus words for "fretful": Jeremianic, abrupt, agitated, antsy, antsy-pantsy, anxious, bad-tempered, breathless, bustling, captious, carping, catty, caviling, chafing, choleric, complaining, contrary, crabby, cranky, critical, cross, curt, disagreeable, eager, edgy, excited, faultfinding, fidgety, fluttering, fluttery, fractious, fretting, fussing, fussy, grumpy, hasty, hopped-up, howling, huffy, ill-natured, ill-tempered, impatient, impetuous, in a lather, in a stew, in a sweat, irascible, irritable, jumpy, lamentive, moanful, moody, mournful, nagging, naggy, on edge, peevish, perverse, pettish, petulant, plaintive, plangent, puling, querulous, resentful, restive, restless, short, short-tempered, shrewish, snappish, sorrowful, splenetic, squirming, squirmy, sulky, testy, tetchy, touchy, turbulent, ululant, uneasy, unpatient, unquiet, unsettled, vexed, vixenish, vixenly, wailful, waspish, whimpering, whining, whiny
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |