grouchy

comparative grouchier · superlative grouchiest

1. Irritable; easily upset; angry; tending to complain.First known use 1895

   His boss gets grouchy when deadlines draw near.

   4 more examples

   Not that young Pat had a nasty temper, or was grouchy as his father had feared.

   1911, Jack London, chapter III, in The Abysmal Brute

   He went in to mumble that he was "sorry, didn't mean to be grouchy," and to inquire as to her interest in movies.

   1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXXI, in Babbitt

   In Berlin I once heard Susie Clemens—ill-fated, talented girl, who died so young—say to her father: "Grouchy again! They do say that you can be funny when company is around—too bad that you don't consider Henry Fisher company."

   1922, Henry William Fischer, “Author's Preface”, in Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field

   Sometimes Greg is a little grouchy, but I am always doing things to cheer him up.

   2008, Jeff Kinney, The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book, page 169

   Synonyms: cranky, grumpy, tetchy