as in irritable
easily irritated or annoyed
shop customers learned not to bother the short-tempered dog on their way out
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Examples of short-tempered in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Noticing how these patterns affect your personal life—say, leading to venting or being short-tempered at home—provides valuable insights into your reactions at work.
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Liz Kislik, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024
The waitstaff at Allen’s were professional but could be short-tempered when faced with a subpar busboy.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024
Doherty, then 19, became a superstar in the early ’90s playing the straitlaced but short-tempered Brenda Walsh as the show became a guilty pleasure for a generation.
—Ethan Sacks, NBC News, 14 July 2024
Bader — a veteran voice actor who on Max’s Harley Quinn alone has voiced Batman/Bruce Wayne, Gorilla Grodd, Thomas Wayne and others — here will play Harvey Dent, a great-looking and charismatic DA who is also ruthlessly ambitious, arrogant, short-tempered and a dangerous person to cross.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 20 June 2024
Dear Amy: My husband has been irritable, tense, short-tempered and basically taking things out on me and our 16-year-old son.
—Amy Dickinson, Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2024
Per usual, Barry Gibb speaks to newsmakers of the day, becoming increasingly short-tempered with his guests in between breaking into song.
—Vulture, 28 Jan. 2024
The collector, despite his reputation for being short-tempered or blustery, is curious and soft-spoken on tape.
—Geoff Edgers, Washington Post, 14 Oct. 2023
Olsson and his growing group were stuck. Nervous and short-tempered, Olsson shouted orders that day and threatened to kill people who resisted.
—Donald Beaulieu, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2023
Liz Kislik, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024
The waitstaff at Allen’s were professional but could be short-tempered when faced with a subpar busboy.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024
Doherty, then 19, became a superstar in the early ’90s playing the straitlaced but short-tempered Brenda Walsh as the show became a guilty pleasure for a generation.
—Ethan Sacks, NBC News, 14 July 2024
Bader — a veteran voice actor who on Max’s Harley Quinn alone has voiced Batman/Bruce Wayne, Gorilla Grodd, Thomas Wayne and others — here will play Harvey Dent, a great-looking and charismatic DA who is also ruthlessly ambitious, arrogant, short-tempered and a dangerous person to cross.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 20 June 2024
Dear Amy: My husband has been irritable, tense, short-tempered and basically taking things out on me and our 16-year-old son.
—Amy Dickinson, Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2024
Per usual, Barry Gibb speaks to newsmakers of the day, becoming increasingly short-tempered with his guests in between breaking into song.
—Vulture, 28 Jan. 2024
The collector, despite his reputation for being short-tempered or blustery, is curious and soft-spoken on tape.
—Geoff Edgers, Washington Post, 14 Oct. 2023
Olsson and his growing group were stuck. Nervous and short-tempered, Olsson shouted orders that day and threatened to kill people who resisted.
—Donald Beaulieu, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'short-tempered.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Short-tempered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/short-tempered. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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