splenetic
/spləˈnɛtɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.42 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Bad-tempered, irritable, peevish, spiteful, habitually angry.
adj
Related to the spleen.
Example Sentences
- "A sect, whose chief devotion lies / In odd perverse antipathies; / […] / More peevish, cross, and splenetick, / Than dog distract, or monkey sick."
- "Horace seems to have purg'd himself from those Splenetick Reflections in those Odes and Epodes, before he undertook the Noble Work of Satires; which were properly so call'd."
- "[…] here were no Gibers, Cenſurers, Backbiters, Pick-pockets, Highwaymen, Houſebreakers, Attorneys, Bawds, Buffoons, Gameſters, Politicians, Wits, ſplenetick tedious Talkers, Controvertiſts, Raviſhers, Murderers, Robbers, Virtuoſo's; […]"
- "Laura was at a loss to account for her cousin’s sulky behaviour, and ignorant in what she had offended him; however, she was not angry in her turn at Pen’s splenetic mood, for she was the most good-natured and forgiving of women, and besides, an exhibition of jealousy on a man’s part is not always disagreeable to a lady."
- "In fact, Gwendolen, not intending it, but intending the contrary, had offended her hostess, who, though not a splenetic or vindictive woman, had her susceptibilities."
- "In 1979 he published Contre le cinéma situationniste, néo-nazi (Against Neo-Nazi Situationist Cinema), a pamphlet on Hurlements and Debord's later films so splenetic that Isou was unable to bring himself to mention Debord by name; […]"
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: spleneticus, splen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /spləˈnɛtɪk/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more splenetic (comparative)
most splenetic (superlative)
splenetick (alternative, obsolete)
splenetics (plural)