feisty

adj., -i·er, -i·est.

1. Touchy; quarrelsome.
2. Full of spirit or pluck; frisky or spunky. See Regional Note at andiron, feist.

[From FEIST.]

feistiness feist'i·ness n.

(FY-stee)

adjective
1. Spirited; full of courage, spunk, or energy.
2. Touchy, irritable, or ill-tempered.

Etymology
From feist, variant of obsolete fist, short for fisting cur, a contemptuous term for a dog, from fist, from Middle English fisten (to break wind). The word fizzle is ultimately derived from the same source.

Usage
"The disputed territory - remote but fertile and said to contain gold - is not the real issue. More important is the fact that Ethiopia, big, ancient and proud, has its main access to the outside world controlled by small, new, feisty Eritrea." — Africa: The New Princes Fall Out, The Economist (London), May 23, 1998.

"Roxelane, it turns out, was a feisty character in a comic play that Haydn wrote some music for." — Greg Sandow, Hi, I'm Wolfgang and I'll be Your Composer, The Wall Street Journal (New York), Aug 27, 2002.

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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adjective has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: showing courage
  Synonyms: plucky, spunky

Meaning #2: irritable and looking for trouble
  Synonym: touchy

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - ilter, nærtagende, hoven

Nederlands (Dutch)
uitbundig, lichtgeraakt, zenuwachtig, pittig

Français (French)
adj. - fougueux, (US) bagarreur

Deutsch (German)
adj. - lebhaft, aufdringlich, leicht reizbar

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - (ΗΠΑ, καθομ.) νευρώδης, στιβαρός

Italiano (Italian)
esuberante

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - cheio de energia nervosa

Русский (Russian)
сварливый, склочный, агрессивный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - agresivo, vigoroso, exuberante

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - lättretlig, livlig, modig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
易怒的, 活跃的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 易怒的, 活躍的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 공격적인, 허세부리는, (용모) 개 같은

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 雑種の小犬のような, いらいらした

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) نشط , قوي , مزعج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮תוקפני, שופע מרץ, רגיש‬

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