snappish

comparative more snappish · superlative most snappish

1. Likely to snap or bite.

   A snappish cur

   1 more example

   She came to us snappish and suspicious, but when she found what sort of place ours was, it all went off by degrees; […]

   [1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 102

2. Exhibiting irritation or impatience; curt; irascible.

   She heard her own voice, snappish and rude, and pressed a hand to her head.

   1990, Nora Roberts, Taming Natasha, Silhouette Books, published 2011, →ISBN

   3 more examples

   The past fortnight had been one of sullenness, cold black looks, short snappish words, and those ingenious contradictions which sometimes vary the halcyon calm of domestic felicity.

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 222

   Even though the woman didn't work closely with Barsade, so palpable was her complaining and snappish temperament that it had infected everyone who worked around her.

   2011, Lynne McTaggart, The Bond, Simon & Schuster, published 2011, →ISBN, page 91

   There was something underneath her snappish belligerence that made him feel protective and tolerant.

   2011, Mary Doria Russell, Doc, Random House, published 2011, →ISBN, page 173