waspish
Other forms: waspishly
If someone is acting irritable or crabby, you can describe them as waspish. Your sister's waspish complaints about dinner aren't likely to convince your dad to order pizza for her instead.
This adjective comes from the word wasp and the notion that wasps are spiteful and ill-tempered, stinging petulantly when they feel cranky. If someone calls you waspish, that's what they mean — you're easily irritated. It's less common than it once was (waspish has been used since at least the mid-1500s), but it's still a great way to describe anyone who's quick to express their anger.
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very irritable“witty and waspish about his colleagues”ill-naturedhaving an irritable and unpleasant disposition
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Vocabulary lists containing waspish
Brutus is a trusted confidant of the Roman general Julius Caesar, but when he becomes convinced that Caesar's ambitions are a threat to the republic, he plots his friend's assassination.
Harry can't wait to return for his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, until a house elf named Dobby warns him of terrible danger ahead. When students start turning to stone — and Harry is a prime suspect — the boy wizard must figure out what's really going on at Hogwarts.
In the fourth book of the Harry Potter series, the Triwizard Tournament brings foreign students — and unexpected dangers — to Hogwarts.