(a.) Capriciously fretful; characterized by ill-natured freakishness; irritable.
Example Sentences:
(1) "This speaks volumes of Hamilton and his petulant behaviour.
(2) One of the stories that took hold about the Klebolds after the shooting was that they were rich, and that Dylan’s violent behaviour was an extreme version of a spoilt child’s petulance.
(3) If we’re going to do this groupthink [a blanket ban] I think it would smack of petulance.” Jones added: “I stand by what Tony Abbott said: it [Q&A] is a lefty lynch mob.
(4) For a man who can clearly dance, he tends to deliver with a petulant shrug rather than an enthusiastic bang.
(5) One expects tension between a government and charities that tell inconvenient truths, but this has become a notoriously fearful, petulant, and intolerant administration.
(6) Toby Young called her a "petulant prima donna" in the Telegraph, while Observer critic Robert McCrum wrote that, as "an ebullient and pioneering feminist publisher from the 1970s [it's] hardly a surprise that she should find herself unresponsive to Roth's lifelong subject: the adventures of the ordinary sexual [American] man".
(7) His latest show of petulance drew boos from a crowd largely sympathetic to his antics up to that point.
(8) Stuart Lancaster and his coaching team sat looking down at the floor when Owen Farrell received a yellow card 10 minutes from the end for an act of petulance that in part explained why England have failed to live up to the high standard set in the pool of death, perhaps in the hope of a sink hole opening up and taking them away.
(9) Croatia have won 4-0 due in no small part to the idiocy of Alexandre Song, who was sent off in the first off for a preposterous show of petulance.
(10) Goaded, taunted and tormented by the prosecution, Pistorius was perhaps his own worst enemy during cross-examination, suffering surprising memory lapses and appearing evasive, agitated, petulant and self-contradictory.
(11) With great power comes great responsibility, so Facebook , and other large technology companies like Google, Amazon and Netflix need to be watched, critiqued and regulated if necessary, just like any other corporation or petulant adolescent.
(12) A petulant Henry cursed wretched foreigners and launched his own Brexit by leaving the church of Rome.
(13) But that is not possible for as long as Assad remains in power without any timetable for his departure, and for as long as his security forces murder, torture, gas and bomb his own people.” Nigel Dodds, the deputy DUP leader, indicated he was likely to back airstrikes and issued a vicious assault on the Labour leadership, saying: “It’s the petulant, putrid response of the irresponsible revolutionary bedsit they barely seem to have clambered out of.
(14) Chris Bryant, the former minister for Europe and chairman of the parliamentary all-party Russia group, said in a statement: "Having visited the trial and seen for myself the farcical way in which it was being conducted, with ludicrous trumped up charges and a petulant martinet of a prosecutor, it is entirely predictable that [Khodorkovsky] has been found guilty."
(15) Pakistan authorities counter claim that, emboldened by countrywide instability and foreign support, Baloch feudal leaders have petulantly demanded ever more royalties.
(16) They see the protesters as petulant malcontents and repeat Trump’s accusation that some of them are surely getting paid to demonstrate.
(17) I give all my customers five stars except Nicholas, whom I give one star out of petulance at his laziness.
(18) She was vulnerable, touching, kindly, loving, wholly lacking in malice, occasionally petulant in a good cause, and demonstrated her lack of talent for guile whenever she entered upon some well-intentioned intrigue.
(19) Obama has responded with emotions rarely seen during his stoical administration: anger at “hysterical” politicians back home, sorrow at the thought of sending US troops into another Middle East war he fears would be unwinnable, and petulance in the face of those who question his resolve.
(20) He not only represents everything a DJ shouldn't be – obnoxious, petulant, unfunny, and so over-fond of his own horrible, squeaky voice that entire half-hours can pass without any music being played – he represents everything that's wrong with this country.
Puerile
Definition:
(a.) Boyish; childish; trifling; silly.
Example Sentences:
(1) Dismissing the Socialists' censure motion threat as "puerile", Rajoy said: "I came [to parliament] to halt the erosion of Spain's image."
(2) I find them puerile and mildly offensive, but I'm not precious and accept that in predominantly male work environments, they are going to go on.
(3) The positive case for remaining in the EU will also be made by the Scottish National party’s foreign affairs spokesman, Alex Salmond , on Monday, when he will condemn the warnings about the risks of Brexit as, “at best puerile and at worst outlandish scaremongering”.
(4) Many tweeters noted the trend whereby (according to Simon Guerrero) "Channel 4 use offensive programme names but say, 'Well *they* are OK with it...'" In the Telegraph , meanwhile, the film critic Scott Jordan Harris, who is disabled, argued that "making a show just to say that disabled people should be allowed to be funny is ridiculously outdated … All [I'm Spazticus] proves is that we disabled people can be just as a mean-spirited, puerile and unfunny as the able-bodied."
(5) It is six years, after all, since 2009, the year in which the comedian’s blossoming career and reputation took an abrupt and savage hit, thanks to his unloved eponymous sketch show with Gavin & Stacey co-star Mathew Horne (“ puerile and excruciating ”, according to the New Statesman), a critically mauled movie, Lesbian Vampire Killers (“a witless mess”, said the Telegraph), and a calamitous performance hosting the Brit awards with Horne, which even Corden has acknowledged was “shit, because of ego”.
(6) When the circumstances and judgments change, it is best to admit to it and change as well.” In his first Commons confrontation with Osborne as shadow chancellor, McDonnell called the charter “a puerile political trap”.
(7) But Moran is far more than a puerile obsession with large underwear.
(8) Calling all that dangerous socialism may not resonate with most voters, so how, beyond puerile abuse, do the Tories oppose it without looking like defenders of vested interests?
(9) Elsewhere, Twisted Loaf are operating in comparably dark if far less puerile territory.
(10) The Republican convention has, thus far, been a puerile, empty spectacle featuring washed-up actors, reality TV stars, and belligerent, shameless politicians.
(11) But having kids reconnects you to comedy's more puerile end.
(12) (I've observed this on previous occasions and wonder if something puerile, something mockingly unpleasant, is written on the agency's system next to my name – the bearer of this passport has a small cock?)
(13) Some viewers said the commentators were "puerile and hyperactive".
(14) Most offensive, however, was the lameness of the entire endeavour, which would not only fail to inspire even the most puerile of would-be voters, but failed to give any reason for participating in the democratic process more sophisticated than "it might affect the amount of cinnamon in your Danish pastry" and "because you might get twatted".
(15) The former attorney general Dominic Grieve, who was presumably sacked in the summer reshuffle so that these plans could go ahead, is right to describe them as “almost puerile”.
(16) In 1984, he indulged in a riot of puerile name-calling.
(17) Sadowitz's impotent fury, Silverman's preppy naivety, Capurro's puerility – all of these comics reduce their status vis-a-vis the audience and ensure that the jokes bounce back on them.
(18) Female or male pubic hair, meager or normal axillary hair, sparse facial hair, and puerile penile type are characteristic of asthenozoospermia.
(19) Cheap but oddly charming for all its puerile sexism, Purple Rain was the pop sensation of the year, its soundtrack album shifting over 18 million copies and keeping 'When Doves Cry' at number one for six weeks.
(20) Effectively, what we are doing is turning Strasbourg into an advisory body.” Dominic Grieve , the former attorney general who was removed at the last reshuffle, told the Guardian the proposals were “almost puerile”.