petulantly

adv

"petulantly" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“petulantly” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a petulant manner.

Corpus desk

Index EN-petulantly · petulantly · English

petulantly · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for petulantly
PropertyValue
Headwordpetulantly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “petulantly” in English

petulantlyranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

petulantly is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In a petulant manner.".

Zero misspellings are on record for petulantly in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From petulant + -ly. The correct English form is petulantly, spelled P-E-T-U-L-A-N-T-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a petulant manner.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how petulantly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. `She loves the man, and he has been pleased to accept her love: where, then, is her sin?' `Truly, oh Holly, thou art foolish,' she answered, almost petulantly.
  2. A wayward hen, too proud to roost with the other hens on the village church, had come to our coconut palm and was cluck-clucking petulantly, for halfway up the tree she had spied us occupying her roost.

Etymology

From petulant + -ly.

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "petulantly"?
"petulantly" is spelled P-E-T-U-L-A-N-T-L-Y.
What does "petulantly" mean?
As an adverb, "petulantly" means: In a petulant manner.
What is the origin of the word "petulantly"?
From petulant + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list