irascible
Pronunciation
  • (British, America) IPA: /ɪˈɹæs.ɪ.bəl/, /ɪˈɹæs.ə.bəl/
Adjective

irascible

  1. Easily provoked to outbursts of anger; irritable.
    • 1809, Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York, ch. 16:
      . . . the surly and irascible passions which, like belligerent powers, lie encamped around the heart.
    • 1863, Louisa May Alcott, Hospital Sketches, ch. 1:
      I am naturally irascible, and if I could have shaken this negative gentleman vigorously, the relief would have been immense.
    • 1921, William Butler Yeats, Four Years, ch. 10:
      . . . a never idle man of great physical strength and extremely irascible—did he not fling a badly baked plum pudding through the window upon Xmas Day?
    • 2004 Feb. 29, Daniel Kadlec, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,596167,00.html Why He's Meanspan]," Time:
      Alan Greenspan was on an irascible roll last week, first dissing everyone who holds a fixed-rate mortgage — suckers! — and later picking on folks who collect Social Security: Get back to work, Grandma.
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