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 some parts of the southern United States, the word feist (pronounced to rhyme with heist) has been used since the 18th century as a term for a small dog used in hunting more diminutive game animals (such as squirrels). The word comes from the much older, now obsolete word fisting (pronounced as “feisting” would be) meaning “breaking wind,” which was used scornfully in the 16th and 17th centuries to describe gassy pooches. Feisty developed in the late 19th century, its flatulent origin lost, but its small-dog association still visible with a squint: the term conveys the spunk and determination that one may associate with a dog that manages to make its presence known, through its bark or its bite—or perhaps even its indifference to olfactory decorum—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.

The Eagles barely held on for a 22-16 victory over the feisty Carolina Panthers. —

Rob Maaddi, Orlando Sentinel, 9 Dec. 2024 They were met in their driveway by a feisty polar bear, who lunged at the woman. —

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Fox News, 5 Dec. 2024 There was Destiny, the feisty point guard, routinely failing drug tests. —

John Branch, New York Times, 24 Nov. 2024 As Senna developed into first a feisty driver at Toleman and then a threatening one at Lotus, Prost had become the face of the racing world at McLaren. —

Jake Kring-Schreifels, TIME, 29 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for feisty