Word.ws English Dictionary

petulance

/ˈpɛtjʊləns/

petulance noun: rudeness, insolence.

Noun

petulance (countable and uncountable, plural petulances)

  1. (obsolete) Rudeness, insolence.
    • [W]ise men knew, that that, which looked like pride in some, and like petulance in others, would, by experience in affairs, and conversation amongst men, both of which most of them wanted, be in time wrought off […]1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
  2. (obsolete) An insolent remark or act.
    • I believe I was guilty of a petulance, which nothing but my uneasy situation can excuse; if that can.1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXIX”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […]...
  3. Childish impatience or sulkiness; testiness.
    • She […] had shown herself angry and sore, and was now ashamed of her own petulance, and yet unable to discontinue it.1857, Anthony Trollope, “Another Love Scene”, in Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 40

petulance meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

petulance in Tamil

கொட்டம், வெடுவெடுப்புத்தன்மை

petulance in Urdu

مستی, نفس پرستی, شوخی

petulance in Malayalam

കോപശീലം, ദുഃശ്ശീലം, ശുണ്ഠി

Synonyms of petulance

Forms of petulance

pluralpetulances

Origin of petulance

From Middle French pétulance, and its source, Latin petulantia.

Questions about petulance

What does petulance mean?
Petulance means rudeness, insolence.
What is petulance in Tamil?
Petulance in Tamil is கொட்டம், வெடுவெடுப்புத்தன்மை. See Petulance meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is petulance?
Petulance is a noun.
How do you pronounce petulance?
Petulance is pronounced /ˈpɛtjʊləns/.
What is the plural of petulance?
The plural of petulance is petulances.

Words near petulance in the dictionary

  1. petuhah
  2. petuhot
  3. petuhoth
  4. petukh
  5. Petula
  6. petulance
  7. petulances
  8. petulancies
  9. petulancy
  10. petulant
  11. petulantly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: petulance (page history and authors); petulance (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); petulance (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); petulance (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “petulance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/petulance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.