Tetchy

/ˈtɛt͡ʃi/ · adjective

Meaning

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Southern US) Synonym of touchy: easily annoyed or irritated, peevish, testy, irascible; also (figurative) extremely sensitive, difficult to manage, use, or work..

Example Sentences

Nurce: ...But as I said, when it did tast the wormwood on the nipple of my dug, & felt it bitter, pretty foole to see it teachie and fall out with Dugge...

King. And came I not at last to comfort you? Du. No by the holie roode thou knowst it well, Thou camst on earth to make the earth my hell, A greuous burthen was thy berth to me, Techie and waiward was thy infancie, Thy schoele-daies frightful, desperate, wild, and furious.

Nurse: […]But as I said, when it did taste the worme-wood on the nipple of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretie foole, to see it teachie and fall out with the Dugge...

Our hart is so narrowly limited that (by euery little distaste) we are strangely altered, and being in this teasty tetchy way, presently we let flye foorth much vnseemelines.

I warrant, sir, he is, as you say, a very precise acrimonious person—A tetchy repugnant kind of old gentleman.

They’re good boys, as I said afore; but they’re quick and tetchy—George, being the youngest, nat’rally is the tetchiest.

[…] the commonplace Communist simply loses his temper if you venture to doubt whether everything is being done in precisely the best and most intelligent way under the new régime. He is like a tetchy housewife who wants you to recognise that everything is in perfect order in the middle of an eviction.

Synonyms for tetchy

Antonyms for tetchy

Related Words

Word Forms

• tetchier
• tetchiest
• titchy
• techy
• techie
• teachy
• teachie
• teechy
• tetchie
• tecchy
• titchie
• tichy
• tertchy
• tatchy
• tachy

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions