feisty

adjective

ˈfī-stē 

feistier; feistiest

1

chiefly Southern US and Midland US

a

: full of nervous energy : fidgety

b

: touchy, quarrelsome

c

: exuberantly frisky

2

: 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.

Synonyms

• aggressive
• agonistic
• argumentative
• assaultive
• bellicose
• belligerent
• brawly
• chippy
• combative
• confrontational
• contentious
• discordant
• disputatious
• gladiatorial
• militant
• pugnacious
• quarrelsome
• scrappy
• truculent
• warlike

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

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

The entire team will have to collaborate — even with the feisty bunch of coconut warriors known as the Kakamora — in order to break Nalo’s curse, achieve their goal and assemble the community of Moana’s dream. —Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024

The Raiders won the past two playoff games by manhandling North Miami 58-0 and dispatching a feisty Blanche Ely team 53-32 last week. —Gary Curreri, Sun Sentinel, 26 Nov. 2024

That said, the switch to USB-C was a great update and the new colors are fierce, with a feisty orange and lip-smacking purple alongside the eye-catching starlight and more demure blue and midnight options. —David Phelan, Forbes, 24 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

feist + -y entry 1

First Known Use

1896, in the meaning defined at sense 1a