waspish

See also: WASPish

English

WOTD – 4 November 2009

Etymology

From wasp +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒs.pɪʃ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑ.spɪʃ/

  Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

waspish (comparative more waspish, superlative most waspish)

1. Suggestive of the behaviour of a wasp.
2. (figurative) Spiteful or irascible.
   • 1702, [Colley] Cibber, She Wou’d, and She Wou’d Not, or The Kind Impostor. A Comedy. […], London: […] William Turner […], and John Nutt, […], published 1703, →OCLC, Act III, page 30:

     Svveet Hony-Comb, don't be ſo VVaſpiſh: […]

   • 1997, Henry Louis Gates Jr., “The Passing of Anatole Broyard”, in Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man, New York: Random House, page 181:

     Always, he radiated an air of soigné self-confidence: he could be amiable in his opinions or waspish, but he never betrayed a flicker of doubt about what he thought.

Synonyms

• (spiteful or irascible): irascible, spiteful

Translations

suggestive of the behaviour of a wasp

• Finnish: ampiaismainen (fi)

spiteful or irascible

• Bulgarian: ядосан (bg) (jadosan), раздразнен (bg) (razdraznen)
• Danish: giftig (da), hvas (da), skarp (da)
• Finnish: äkäinen (fi)
• French: grincheux (fr)