Definitions

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

If you try to pay as little as possible no matter what, you can wind up with crabby kids who aren’t having fun and go out of their way to make sure you’re not, either.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 11, 2023

There’s little new about the setup of the crabby older person forced together with a resistant youngster only to surmount their mutual disdain and form a life-changing bond.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2023

By now Lord Fredrick was crabby and tired, and he had nearly given up on ever finding someone suitable.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

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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