easily irritated or annoyed; " an incorrigibly fractious young man"; " not the least nettlesome of his countrymen"

Forward; pert; insolent; wanton.

Capriciously fretful; characterized by ill- natured freakishness; irritable.

Fretful; peevish; impatient; as, a petulant answer.

Petulantly.

Falling upon or assailing saucily: forward: impudent: peevish.

Petulance.

Saucy; peevish.

Capriciously ill tempered; fretful; pettish.

Pert or forward; manifesting, or proceeding from petulance; freakish; wanton.

Irritable or pert from fretfulness or ill- humour; saucy; capriciously peevish; freakish in passion.

Perhaps in the shadowy half- light her boy would come and sit with her again for awhile and let her look her last upon his loved face; she could never touch him again or hear his laughing, petulant voice, but surely she might look on her dead. – The Unbearable Bassington by Saki

" Talking tiresome business, I suppose," remarked Zoe, in a half- petulant tone, glancing toward them as she spoke, and apparently addressing Violet, as she was the only other person on the veranda at the moment. – Elsie at Nantucket by Martha Finley

For useless I should have been, and petulant, and wretched. – The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope

For one- are these marvellous things to be given because of one cry; for one petulant demand; for a few tears, mostly of self- pity, shed in an hour when the world fails to satisfy us, when a friend has disappointed us, when our plans are spoiled, when we are sick or lonely? – The Romance of the Soul by Lilian Staveley

All the time Meg was telling me this, sat curled up in a large chair their youngest boy, a pale, sensitive, rather spoiled lad of seven or eight years, with a petulant mouth and nervous dark eyes. – The White Peacock by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

Thus occupied, she revealed a certain petulant beauty. – The Dwelling Place of Light, Complete by Winston Churchill Last Updated: March 5, 2009

The little white- nosed monkey was a born flirt; graceful, petulant and coquettish to a degree, and she knew perfectly well from the very first that Mona admired her. – Rataplan by Ellen Velvin

And the imagination of her coming would shed a feverish gladness all along those petulant, ill- treated, starved nerves. – Aurora the Magnificent by Gertrude Hall

Still, one would have been glad on behalf of human dignity, if he had suffered with firm silence petulant charges against which the consciousness of his own uprightness should have been the only answer. – Rousseau Volumes I. and II. by John Morley

She did not regard the petulant shows of pretended indifference by which a more experienced young woman might have consoled herself. – The Doctor's Family by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

" That is foolish talk," was the petulant reply. – Down the Slope by James Otis

The sun had not yet risen over the moor, when Dymock and Shanty, both arrayed in their best, set off for Hexham, where they found the crabbed old gentlemen, still in the humour of making the purchase, though he abused the place in language at once rude and petulant; his offer, however, was, as Shanty compelled Dymock to see, a very fair one, though the more sensible and wary blacksmith could not persuade his friend to beware of trusting anything to the honour of Mr. Salmon. – Shanty the Blacksmith; A Tale of Other Times by Mrs. Sherwood [AKA: Mrs. Mary Martha Sherwood]

Or glanced and saw a boy, perhaps laughing and eager, perhaps obstinate and petulant; and looked again and only much tenderness was there. – This Freedom by A. S. M. Hutchinson

He still regretted his solitary retort, but not for a moment the more petulant act which he had just committed. – Stingaree by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung

Her light, gray- green eyes had a petulant look; her thin, red lips a petulant droop. – Angel Island by Inez Haynes Gillmore

Barbara darted upon him a glance of petulant disappointment. – Barbara Ladd by Charles G. D. Roberts

Her youth is too girlish, and she has too petulant an air of indifference. – "Le Monsieur De La Petite Dame" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Mrs. Coulson laughed, and made a little half- petulant gesture. – A Damaged Reputation by Harold Bindloss

He was no sooner in Aiken than Dame Fortune ceased minding the other small boy, and turned her petulant eyes upon Larkin. – IT and Other Stories by Gouverneur Morris

Jenny's soft hand on his arm was not successful in banishing the aggrieved notes from Maurice's petulant defense of opals. – Carnival by Compton Mackenzie