petulant Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite easily irritated or annoyed
    peckish; nettlesome; testy; tetchy; cranky; techy; fractious; irritable; scratchy; pettish; peevish.
    • an incorrigibly fractious young man
    • not the least nettlesome of his countrymen

WordNet

Pet"u*lant adjective
Etymology
L. petulans, -antis, prop., making slight attacks upon, from a lost dim. of petere to fall upon, to attack: cf. F. pétulant. See Petition.
Definitions
  1. Forward; pert; insolent; wanton. Obs. Burton.
  2. Capriciously fretful; characterized by ill-natured freakishness; irritable. "Petulant moods." Macaulay. Syn. -- Irritable; ill-humored; peevish; cross; fretful; querulous.

Webster 1913