ill-tempered.

Prone to anger, irritation, or unfriendly responses.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• ill-tempered exchange
• ill-tempered reply

On the page

An ill-tempered exchange ended the meeting.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more ill-tempered; superlative most ill-tempered when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.