stroppy

English

Etymology

From obstropulous, common slang in British Isles for obstreperous, +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɹɒpi/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒpi

Adjective

stroppy (comparative stroppier, superlative stroppiest)

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Ornery, fractious, belligerent, or obstreperous, and hence difficult to deal with.
   • 2004, Simon Brett, The Hanging in the Hotel, Pan Macmillan UK, unnumbered page,

     Her shape and posture shadowed her daughter′s, though Kerry carried herself with more attitude, a stroppier jutting of the hips than her mother.

   • 2010, Gillian Bloxham, W. Doyle Gentry, Anger Management For Dummies, UK Edition, unnumbered page,

     Even today, women who show signs of anger and who express themselves in some assertive way may be labelled stroppy for doing so.

   • 2010, Alexandra Bell, Rising to the Deadline: One Woman's Sexy Climb to the Top in Newspapers, Trafford Publishing, Canada, page 140,

     The people who actually produced the paper, mainly the printers, were a stroppier lot, with a more aggressive union.

   • 2010, Sophie Kinsella (Madeleine Wickham), Mini Shopaholic, page 341,

     Davina told me earlier that Luke was the stroppiest patient she′d ever had and that he′d given her a lecture on how inefficient and time-wasting her medical was.

Derived terms

• stroppily
• stroppiness

See also

• strop (unrelated)