crabby

[krab-ee] / ˈkræb i /

ADJECTIVE

irritable

Synonyms

WEAK

acid acrid acrimonious awkward bad-tempered blunt brusque captious choleric chuffy churlish crabbed cranky cross crotchety crusty cynical difficult dour fretful gloomy glum grouchy harsh huffy ill-humored ill-tempered irascible misanthropic morose mumpish nasty-tempered peevish perverse petulant prickly saturnine snappish sour splenetic sulky sullen surly tart testy tough trying unsociable

Antonyms

WEAK

amiable good-humored good-natured happy pleasant sweet

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The bots responded to lines of cars and never got crabby, Baartman said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

He added passengers jokingly pointed out the "shellfish" crab had its feet on the seat, while others called out the crabby commuter for fare dodging.

From BBC • Sep. 19, 2025

John Ashton, the veteran actor who was best known for portraying crabby Detective John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise, has died.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 30, 2024

"I like this guy. As crabby as he is, he loves his wife," Odenkirk said.

From Salon • Jan. 12, 2023

I took another step, and she gave what was supposed to be a fierce growl, like a crabby kitten, then whacked her tail again.

From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate

Vocabulary lists containing crabby

Rules

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Life As We Knew It

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Al Capone Does My Shirts

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