petulance

Pet"u*lance, Pet"u*lan*cy, n. Etym: [L. petulania: cf. F. pétulance. See Petulant.] Defn: The quality or state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. "The petulancy of our words." B. Jonson. Like pride in some, and like petulance in others. Clarendon. The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown. Cowper. Syn. -- Petulance, Peevishness. -- Peevishness implies the permanence of a sour, fretful temper; petulance implies temporary or capricious irritation.

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