VocabularyBasePractice words

Meaning & use

huffiness

noun·Advancedinformal

Last updated

UK/ˈhʌfinəs/
US/ˈhʌfinəs/

Meaning

  1. noununcountableinformal

    A touchy, sulky bad temper that shows when someone feels slighted or insulted.

    Grammar: No plural and no article: her huffiness annoyed us.

    Patterns

    • huffiness about something
    • huffiness at someone

    His huffiness after the teasing lasted all through dinner.

    I could not miss the huffiness in her voice when I forgot her birthday.

    The manager's huffiness over small criticisms made staff afraid to speak.

Common combinations

a note of huffiness
There was a note of huffiness in his reply.
huffiness in her voice
She spoke with huffiness in her voice.
wounded huffiness
He walked out with wounded huffiness.
sulky huffiness
The teenager's sulky huffiness filled the car.
react with huffiness
Some people react with huffiness to advice.

Synonyms and how they differ

pique
Pique is more formal and suggests a brief flash of resentment over hurt pride.
sulkiness
Sulkiness stresses silent moping, while huffiness includes an offended tone.
irritability
Irritability is a general readiness to be annoyed and does not require feeling insulted.
petulance
Petulance suggests childish bad temper and sounds harsher than huffiness.

Opposites

good humorcheerfulness

Word family

huff noun
a fit of annoyance, as in leave in a huff
huffy adjective
easily offended
huffily adverb
in an offended way
huff verb
to breathe out heavily or sulk

Commonly confused: huffiness or fluffiness?

huffiness vs fluffiness

Fluffiness means being soft and light, so it has no link to mood.

Practice

His huffiness after the joke showed that he felt ___.

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “huffiness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Your sentence stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

Explore more words