US /ˈkɑlərɪk/ UK /ˈkɒlərɪk/
adj

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    easily angered; bad-tempered

    The choleric old colonel barked orders at everyone in sight.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · easily angered; bad-tempered irascibleirritablebad-temperedtestyhot-temperedpeevishsplenetic
Opposites
placideven-temperedphlegmaticcalm
Word family
Derived forms cholerically
Related forms cholercholera

Etymology

From Old French colerique, from Latin cholericus, from Ancient Greek kholerikós ('bilious'), from kholḗ ('bile'); in medieval humoral medicine, an excess of yellow bile was thought to cause an angry temperament.

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