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Snappish vs Peevish - What's the difference?

snappish | peevish |

As adjectives the difference between snappish and peevish

is that snappish is likely to snap or bite while peevish is constantly complaining; fretful, whining.

snappish

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Likely to snap or bite.
    • A snappish cur
  • *1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
  • *:"She came to us snappish and suspicious, but when she found what sort of place ours was, it all went off by degrees
  • Exhibiting irritation or impatience; curt; irascible.
  • * 1990 , Nora Roberts, Taming Natasha , Silhouette Books (2011), ISBN 9781459213173, unnumbered page:
    • She heard her own voice, snappish and rude, and pressed a hand to her head.
  • * 2011 , Lynne McTaggart, The Bond , Simon & Schuster (2011), ISBN 9781439157947, page 91:
    • Even though the woman didn't work closely with Barsade, so palpable was her complaining and snappish temperament that it had infected everyone who worked around her.
  • * 2011 , Mary Doria Russell, Doc , Random House (2011), ISBN 9781400068043, page 173:
    • There was something underneath her snappish belligerence that made him feel protective and tolerant.

    Derived terms

    * snappishly * snappishness

    peevish

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Constantly complaining; fretful, whining.
  • * , King Henry V , act 3, scene 7:
    • Orleans: What a wretched and peevish fellow is this king of England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so far out of his knowledge!
  • * 1813 , , Pride and Prejudice , ch. 41:
    • [T]he luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish .
  • * 1917 , , "The Mixer" in The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories :
    • At first he was quite peevish . "What's the idea," he said, "coming and spoiling a man's beauty-sleep? Get out."

    Derived terms

    * peevishly * peevishness