Category:Petulance

Pet"u*lance, pet"u*lan*cy, n. Etym: [l. petulania: cf. F. pétulance. See petulant.]

Defn: the quality or state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; Pettishness; capricious ill humor. "the petulancy of our words." 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.