- 1任性的、鬧彆扭的
A petulant person is behaving in an unreasonably impatient and angry way, like a child who has been told no. A petulant remark, a petulant sigh, a petulant toss of the head — the word often describes the manner, not a huge fight. The anger is real, but it feels small, sharp, and a bit spoiled: “Why should I wait?” rather than a serious grievance. Adults can be petulant; when we call them that, we are not being kind. We are saying the reaction is too big for the problem, and too young for their age. It is a fairly formal, writerly word. In everyday talk people are more likely to say someone is being childish, sulky, or in a mood.
組成From Middle French, from Latin petulāns. That Latin word is akin to petō, “to ask for” — the picture is of someone always pushing for what they want.
同家族的字
- petulancethe noun: this impatient, childish mood or behaviour
- petulantlythe adverb: in a petulant way
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
petulantadj/ˈpɛt͡ʃʊlənt/
- 1
Childishly irritable.
- Lack of sleep is causing Dave's recent petulant behavior.
- But when your praying has troubled the silence long it may be that some god as he strolls in Pegāna’s glades may come on one of our lost prayers, that flutters like a butterfly tossed in storm when all its wings are broken; then if the gods be merciful they may ease our fears in Sidith, or else they may crush us, being petulant gods, and so we shall see trouble in Sidith no longer, with its pestilence and dearth and fears of war.
- 2
obsoleteForward; pert; insolent; wanton.
- Who hath not like cause to complain, and is not so troubled, that shall fall into the mouths of such men? for many are of so petulant a spleen
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。