petulance : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: petulance	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for petulance
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
petulance n an irritable petulant feeling [syn: irritability, crossness, fretfulness, fussiness, peevishness, petulance, choler]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Petulance \Pet"ulance\, Petulancy \Pet"ulancy\, n. [L. petulania: cf. F. p[82]tulance. See {Petulant}.] The quality or state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. [bd]The petulancy of our words.[b8] --B. Jonson. Like pride in some, and like petulance* in others. --Clarendon. The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown. --Cowper. Syn: {Petulance}, {Peevishness}. -- Peevishness implies the permanence of a sour, fretful temper; petulance implies temporary or capricious irritation.