QUERULOUS
(adjective)
~complaining in a petulant or whining manner.
This is one of those words that kind of sounds like what it means, and a word that my tongue stumbles over. When I say QUERULOUS, it’s as though I’m trying to talk with marbles in my mouth. For that reason, though this word is intriguing and I like the uniqueness of it, I’ll not likely use it in my writing.
The derivatives are just as difficult, if not more so.
QUERULOUSLY (adverb)
QUERULOUSNESS (noun)
So if it’s doubtful I’ll use QUERULOUS, what are good alternatives?
Petulant, peevish, pettish, complaining, fractious, fretful, irritable, testy, tetchy, cross, snappish, crabby, crotchety, cantankerous, miserable, moody, grumpy, bad-tempered, sullen, sulky, sour, churlish, snappy, grouchy, cranky
I like quite a few of these and hope to use them in my writing.
Petulant and peevish are just nice alternatives.
Fractious makes me think of fractured.
Tetchy—oh, this one’s fun. I could see describing a character as tetchy. I had a tetchy neighbor. Very tetchy.
Crotchety, cantankerous, and grumpy are great ones to describe older people. I had a grandpa who could get cantankerous. He was quite sweet and fun so long as you avoided certain subjects.
Churlish means rude in a mean-spirited way. I would have guessed it as something done in a childish way. This is why I look up words that I think I know the definition of. I have been surprised a few times.
Rather than being QUERULOUS about my mouth having difficulty pronouncing this, I’ll opt for one of the many marvelous alternatives.
COMING SOON
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.Washington State, 1893
When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available for pre-order at only $2.99--the low price for pre-orders...later it will go up. A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This book releases in ebook on July 1, and will be out in paperback by mid-June.
“Holly & Ivy,”my #HistoricalRomance novella in A BOUQUET OF BRIDES COLLECTION, takes place in 1890, in Washington State. It’s about a young woman who accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a Christmas mail-order bride and is helped by a gallant stranger. #BouquetOfBrides
A doctor or an Amish wife? She can choose to be only one…Kathleen Yoder comes home after fourteen years in the Englisher world. Practicing medicine means sacrifice—no Amish man will want a doctor for a wife. Widowed Noah Lambright offers a cottage as her new clinic, seeing how much Kathleen’s skills can help their community. But as their friendship deepens, could love and family become more than a forbidden dream?
#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance
MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
No comments:
Post a Comment