feisty

adjective

ˈfī-stē

feistier; feistiest

Synonyms of feisty next

chiefly Southern US and Midland US

: full of nervous energy : fidgety

: touchy, quarrelsome

: exuberantly frisky

: having or showing a lively aggressiveness : spunky

the movie's feisty heroine

feistiness noun

Did you know?

In certain parts of the United States, most notably the South, the noun feist (pronounced to rhyme with heist) refers to a small dog used in hunting small game animals (such as squirrels). Also spelled fice or fyce, it comes from an obsolete term, "fisting hound," that derived from another obsolete term, fist, a verb that once meant "to break wind." The term feisty has come a long way from its flatulent origin, but its small-dog association still seems relevant: the term conveys the spunk and determination that one may associate with a dog that manages to make its presence known (either through its bark or its bite) despite its small size.

Examples of feisty in a Sentence

I was feisty, because people misinterpret what country music is, just like they think Southerners are a bunch of hicks. —

Wynonna Judd, quoted in Rolling Stone, 8-22 July 1993

Humorist Cynthia Heimel never plays it safe, bless her feisty little heart. She's outrageous and hilarious, daring to say exactly what she and millions of other women really think … —

Donna Seaman, Booklist, 15 May 1993

… Milwaukee was the last major industrial city to elect a Socialist mayor—Frank P. Zeidler, a feisty octogenarian who teaches today at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee … —

Charles P. Pierce, Village Voice, 10 Mar. 1992

She never tired of hearing anecdotes from her childhood, and she particularly liked to hear how feisty she had been … —

Lorene Cary, Black Ice, 1991

The novel features a feisty heroine. Even her opponents admire her feisty spirit.

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

On the morning of March 19, 2018, the feisty grandmother woke up at 4:30 a.m., took her blood pressure and then went for her daily walk around the grounds of the Preston Place Retirement Community in Plano, Texas. —

Christine Pelisek, People.com, 23 Nov. 2024 The composer is unexpectedly feisty in these sessions, disparaging mediocrities and promoting friends. —

Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2024 Nicki Minaj Since 2011, the feisty rapper has conjured a dozen Grammy nominations, but nary a win. —

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2024 Eight years on, a driver more mature, still feisty in spirit, now a three-time world champion, chasing his fourth on the same track in the same conditions. —

Kanzah Maktoum, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for feisty