VocabauraVOCABAURA

grumpy

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

A dissatisfied and irritable person.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

gruhmpee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɡɹʌmpi

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. informal

    A dissatisfied and irritable person.

adjective

  1. Dissatisfied and irritable.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A dissatisfied and irritable person.

Used this way, grumpy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Casual
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Playful
Usage feel
Casual and conversational

Where it naturally appears

  • Everyday conversation
  • Social media/informal writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “grumpy”. We review each one before it appears.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: dissatisfied and irritable

grouchyInformalcrabbyRare

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “grumpy” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.