Petulance; Petulancy

Part of speech: noun (n.)

The quality or state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. "The petulancy of our words." B. Jonson. Like pride in some, and like petulance in others. Clarendon. The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown. Cowper.

Synonyms: Petulance, Peevishness. Peevishness implies the permanence of a sour, fretful temper; petulance implies temporary or capricious irritation.