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waspish. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From wasp + -ish.
Pronunciation
Adjective
waspish (comparative more waspish, superlative most waspish)
- Suggestive of the behaviour of a wasp.
- (figurative) Spiteful or irascible.
1702, [Colley] Cibber, She Wou’d, and She Wou’d Not, or The Kind Impostor. A Comedy. , London: William Turner , and John Nutt, , published 1703, →OCLC, Act III, page 30:Svveet Hony-Comb, don't be ſo VVaſpiſh: […]
1997, Henry Louis Gates Jr., “The Passing of Anatole Broyard”, in Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man, New York: Random House, page 181:Always, he radiated an air of soigné self-confidence: he could be amiable in his opinions or waspish, but he never betrayed a flicker of doubt about what he thought.
Synonyms
Translations
suggestive of the behaviour of a wasp