FreeScrabbleDictionary

curmudgeon

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
16
Words With Friends
22
Letters
10
Pronunciation
/kɜːˈmʌdʒ.ən/
See all 2 pronunciations
/kɜːˈmʌdʒ.ən/ · /kɚˈmʌd͡ʒ.ən/ (US)

Definition of curmudgeon

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. An ill-tempered person full of stubborn ideas or opinions, often an older man.
    “Near-synonyms: crank, grump; grumpy pants (often childish), sourpuss, grouch”
    “There's a cranky curmudgeon working at the hospital who gives all the patients and other doctors flak.”
    “John Doe's old age and stubborn aversion to new ideas make him a curmudgeon of a candidate.”
    “After a while, as cultural debates became more polarized, the editorial tone of the New Criterion went from being charmingly curmudgeon to being bitterly shrill.”
    “How to Be a Curmudgeon on the Internet”
See all 2 definitions

noun

  1. An ill-tempered person full of stubborn ideas or opinions, often an older man.
    “Near-synonyms: crank, grump; grumpy pants (often childish), sourpuss, grouch”
    “There's a cranky curmudgeon working at the hospital who gives all the patients and other doctors flak.”
    “John Doe's old age and stubborn aversion to new ideas make him a curmudgeon of a candidate.”
    “After a while, as cultural debates became more polarized, the editorial tone of the New Criterion went from being charmingly curmudgeon to being bitterly shrill.”
    “How to Be a Curmudgeon on the Internet”
  2. (archaic)A miser.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Numerous folk etymologies exist for this word. An alternative spelling attested in 1600 is cornmudgin, in Holland's translation of Livy, rendering Latin frūmentārius (“corn-merchant”). This has been suggested as the…

See full etymology

Numerous folk etymologies exist for this word. An alternative spelling attested in 1600 is cornmudgin, in Holland's translation of Livy, rendering Latin frūmentārius (“corn-merchant”). This has been suggested as the original form of the word, but OED notes that curmudgeon is attested some years before this, concluding that cornmudgin was merely a nonce-word by Holland. The word is attested from the late 1500s in the forms curmudgeon and curmudgen, and during the 17th century in numerous spelling variants, including cormogeon, cormogion, cormoggian, cormudgeon, curmudgion, curmuggion, curmudgin, curr-mudgin, curre-megient.

Words you can make from curmudgeon

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7-letter words

8 words

6-letter words

26 words

5-letter words

55 words

4-letter words

87 words

3-letter words

23 words

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