as in aggression
an inclination to fight or quarrel
a panel of political pundits with a well-earned reputation for unfettered feistiness
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Recent Examples of feistiness
Thanks to the care from the hospital staff at Carne Foundation and her own feistiness, Sienna Bobbie Crocker now weighs seven pounds, 12 ½ ounces and last Monday, 43 days after her birthday, the family brought her home.
—
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 3 Apr. 2026
His feistiness didn’t require any time to reach its customary levels.
—Josh Yohe, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2026
Mangiapane’s feistiness is something the group can learn from, now that the 29-year-old is suddenly a veteran in the locker room.
—Kalen Lumpkins, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2026
Drescher brought greater visibility and idiosyncratic feistiness to SAG-AFTRA, but can that momentum be sustained?
—Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 20 Aug. 2025
Simeone will have to find ways to replace De Paul’s feistiness in midfield, Lino’s strong wing play, and Correa’s tenacity off the bench.
—Vitas Carosella, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 3 Apr. 2026
His feistiness didn’t require any time to reach its customary levels.
—Josh Yohe, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2026
Mangiapane’s feistiness is something the group can learn from, now that the 29-year-old is suddenly a veteran in the locker room.
—Kalen Lumpkins, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2026
Drescher brought greater visibility and idiosyncratic feistiness to SAG-AFTRA, but can that momentum be sustained?
—Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 20 Aug. 2025
Simeone will have to find ways to replace De Paul’s feistiness in midfield, Lino’s strong wing play, and Correa’s tenacity off the bench.
—Vitas Carosella, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for feistiness
Noun
-
For her, this was practically homicidal aggression.—
Chang-rae Lee,
New Yorker,
3 May 2026
-
Race, bad bosses and the fly-on-the-wall fun of watching office politics and micro-aggressions play out makes this workplace suspense novel a total page-turner (as well as a binge-worthy limited television series).—
Laura Zigman,
PEOPLE,
2 May 2026
Noun
-
Embiid’s aggressiveness early — along with Tyrese Maxey’s speed and ability to put defenders in bad positions — put the Knicks in unfavorable foul trouble early.—
Fiifi Frimpong,
New York Daily News,
5 May 2026
-
The team with the league’s highest payroll going down in the first round to a heavy underdog is bad for business, but Allen changed the entire dynamic with his defensive aggressiveness and rebounding.—
Jason Lloyd,
New York Times,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
There was elegant defiance this week as Pat Riley in an opening statement answered the question before it could be asked at his annual season-ending media session.—
Greg Cote
April 28,
Miami Herald,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Forced into an uneasy alliance with a sharp-witted poacher living on the margins of society (Kellyman), the two women fight back, turning their powerlessness into strength through violence, wit, and defiance.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
As this sequence plays out, the social fabric further shreds and unravels; trust circles shrink and become ever more homogeneous; and hostility, mean spiritedness, and a general hardening take hold in society.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
3 May 2026
-
The president did send a letter to Congress, just to recap, saying that hostilities have been terminated, given the ceasefire that was put in place on April 7th.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
Trump had won by fifty-three points there in 2016, and Greene’s paranoid pugnacity seemed like a good fit, if voters could stomach an outsider.—
Charles Bethea,
New Yorker,
5 Jan. 2026
-
That does not mean his pugnacity has dimmed.—
Matt Zoller Seitz,
Vulture,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Feistiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/feistiness. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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