Petulance

{ Pet"u*lance (?), Pet"u*lan*cy (?), } n. [L. petulania: cf. F. pétulance. See Petulant.] 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.

The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown.

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