Synonyms

tetchy

American

[tech-ee] / ˈtɛtʃ i /

Or techy

adjective

tetchier, tetchiest

irritable; touchy.

tetchy British

/ ˈtɛtʃɪ /

adjective

being or inclined to be cross, irritable, or touchy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

tetchily adverb
tetchiness noun

Etymology

Origin of tetchy

1585–95; origin uncertain; tetched, -y ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When they meet Thursday night in Milan, these tetchy border rivals will have met in the Olympic final seven out of eight times since the sport was introduced at the 1998 Games.

From The Wall Street Journal

In a sometimes tetchy exchange, Sherborne put to the former editor that a series of journalists did not obey the ban and continued paying private investigators and freelance journalists for unlawful information.

From BBC

Porter apologized and expressed remorse for her tetchy behavior.

From Los Angeles Times

And after the tetchy, scratchy, emotional exchanges in the High Court, it's not something that you think he'll miss.

From BBC

Stokes said he was shell-shocked in some tetchy post-match media interactions, comments that were used against the captain as England lost the PR battle in the days after the Test.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023