petulance means rudeness, insolence. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 72 out of 100.
petulance is pronounced /ˈpɛtjʊləns/.
Why “petulance” is a great word
PETULANCE — [Noun] The quality of being childishly sulky, bad-tempered, or impatiently irritable. From Middle French pétulance, and its source, Latin petulantia ("sauciness, impudence, insolence"). First attested in English c. 1600. Unlike "irritability," which suggests a chronic susceptibility, or "insolence," which denotes open contempt, petulance is the minor theatre of a thwarted will. It is the pointless slam of a door, the sigh meant to be overheard, the sullen silence that hangs like a damp curtain—the small, desperate spectacle of an adult momentarily regressing to the logic of a child denied a sweet.
noun
- Rudeness, insolence.“[W]ise men knew, that that, which looked like pride in some, and like petulance in others, would, by experience in affairs, and conversation amongst men, both of which most of them wanted, be in time wrought off […]”
- An insolent remark or act.“I believe I was guilty of a petulance, which nothing but my uneasy situation can excuse; if that can.”
- Childish impatience or sulkiness; testiness.“She […] had shown herself angry and sore, and was now ashamed of her own petulance, and yet unable to discontinue it.”