1.
[syn: irritability, crossness, fretfulness, fussiness, peevishness, petulance, choler]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fretful \Fret"ful\, a. [See 2d Fret.]
Disposed to fret; ill-humored; peevish; angry; in a state of
vexation; as, a fretful temper. -- Fret"ful*ly, adv. --
Fret"ful*ness, n.
Syn: Peevish; ill-humored; ill-natured; irritable; waspish;
captious; petulant; splenetic; spleeny; passionate;
angry.
Usage: Fretful, Peevish, Cross. These words all
indicate an unamiable working and expression of
temper. Peevish marks more especially the inward
spirit: a peevish man is always ready to find fault.
Fretful points rather to the outward act, and marks a
complaining impatience: sickly children are apt to be
fretful. Crossness is peevishness mingled with
vexation or anger.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
fretfulness
n 1: an irritable petulant feeling [syn: irritability,
crossness, fretfulness, fussiness, peevishness,
petulance, choler]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
28 Moby Thesaurus words for "fretfulness":
anxiety, breathless impatience, chafing, disquietude, eagerness,
excitement, fretting, haste, impatience, impatientness,
impetuousness, lather, peevishness, pettishness, petulance,
petulancy, querulousness, resentfulness, restiveness, restlessness,
shrewishness, stew, sweat, tense readiness, uneasiness,
unpatientness, unquietness, vixenishness