catty

1 of 2

noun

cat·​ty ˈka-tē How to pronounce catty (audio)
plural catties
: any of various units of weight of China and southeast Asia varying around 1¹/₃ pounds (about 600 grams)
also : a standard Chinese unit equal to 1.1023 pounds (500 grams)

catty

2 of 2

adjective

cattier; cattiest
1
: resembling a cat
especially : slyly spiteful : malicious
made several catty comments
2
: of or relating to a cat
cattily adverb
cattiness noun

Examples of catty in a Sentence

Adjective a catty remark that served only to hurt their feelings
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Set in 1930s London, the fictional drama follows the prickly bond between Jimmy and theater actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), a constant target of his catty takedowns. Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2024 Everyone is feeling conversational mid-week when Mercury makes friends with motivational Mars, only to be followed by a crisis of confidence when the Sun gets catty with lucky Jupiter. Jennifer Culp, Them, 6 Sep. 2024
Adjective
Some of them included Anna Sawai, Liza Colón-Zayas and Hiroyuki Sanada making history with their wins; Candice Bergen making a catty J.D. Vance joke; and The West Wing, Happy Days and Saturday Night Live casts reuniting onstage. Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Sep. 2024 The Perfect Couple also strangely follows Big Little Lies’ format of splicing catty police-interrogation sequences between actually important scenes. Patricia Karounos, refinery29.com, 10 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for catty 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'catty.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Malay kati

First Known Use

Noun

1598, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1886, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of catty was in 1598

Dictionary Entries Near catty

Cite this Entry

“Catty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catty. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

catty

adjective
cat·​ty
ˈkat-ē
cattier; cattiest
1
: resembling a cat
2
: mean in a sly way
catty remarks
cattily
ˈkat-ə-lē
adverb
cattiness
ˈkat-ē-nəs
noun

More from Merriam-Webster on catty

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