waspish
/ˈwɒspɪʃ
/adjective
Readily expressing anger or irritation: he had a waspish tongue...
- That should have ended it, except that certain newspapers have grown irritable and waspish with Tony Blair.
- Her waspish tongue has already landed her in trouble.
- On reflection, however, I feel this would be unlikely, because I cannot be alone in considering his regular waspish observations positive endorsement of a production.
Synonyms
irritable, touchy, testy, irascible, cross, snappish, cantankerous, splenetic, short-tempered, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, foul-tempered, moody, crabbed, crotchety, grumpy, huffy, ratty, petulant, peevish, querulous, angry, sharp
informal grouchy
Northern English informal mardy
Derivatives
waspishly
/ adverb ...- Nevertheless, you don't hear jokes about equine looks, nor waspishly disparaging put-downs as often as you used to.
- ‘I assume this procedure is familiar to you,’ he said waspishly.
- ‘Fine, get fat then,’ I said waspishly, glaring at him.
waspishness
- Are their early waspish criticisms insincere and their later affirmations the real deal, or are the affirmations the fakery and the waspishness the genuine thing?
- ‘Oh, no, I'm not stung by his waspishness, James’ Miranda purred playfully, ‘and yes, I would absolutely love to be walked back to my beach towel.’
- And if there's a hint of waspishness involved, that might provide even more of a buzz…
- non-German
- non-Germanic
- non-governmental
- non-graduate
- non-gravitation
- non-greasy
- non-gremial
- non-haem
- non-happening
- non-hearer
- non-hearing
- non-heme
- nonhereditary
- non-Hermitian
- non-hero
- non-hierarchic
- non-hierarchical
- nonhistorical
- non-Hodgkin
- non-Hodgkins
- non-Hodgkin's
- non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- non-homogeneous
- non-homologous
- non-homosexual