Peevishness is a habit of getting annoyed by small, unimportant things — a noise, a short wait, a tiny mistake, a change of plan that does not really matter. It is not a big, fair anger about a real problem. It is the ready-to-snap kind: a person who shows peevishness sounds sharp, complains easily, and is hard to please over little stuff. Though actually, this is more a way of being than a one-time feeling. You can be briefly angry and then let it go; peevishness sits there, looking for the next small thing. The word is a little old-fashioned and a little judging. In careful writing and older books you will meet it often; on the street, people more often say someone is grumpy, irritable, or always in a mood. When you name peevishness, you are usually saying the annoyance is small-minded, not serious.

因小事就發脾氣；愛抱怨的暴躁