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In certain parts of the United States, most notably the South, the noun feist (pronounced to rhyme with heist) refers to a small dog used in hunting small game animals (such as squirrels). Also spelled fice or fyce, it comes from an obsolete term, "fisting hound," that derived from another obsolete term, fist, a verb that once meant "to break wind." The term feisty has come a long way from its flatulent origin, but its small-dog association still seems relevant: the term conveys the spunk and determination that one may associate with a dog that manages to make its presence known (either through its bark or its bite) despite its small size.
Synonyms
Examples of feisty in a Sentence
Wynonna Judd, quoted in Rolling Stone, 8-22 July 1993
Humorist Cynthia Heimel never plays it safe, bless her feisty little heart. She's outrageous and hilarious, daring to say exactly what she and millions of other women really think …
—Donna Seaman, Booklist, 15 May 1993
… Milwaukee was the last major industrial city to elect a Socialist mayor—Frank P. Zeidler, a feisty octogenarian who teaches today at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee …
—Charles P. Pierce, Village Voice, 10 Mar. 1992
She never tired of hearing anecdotes from her childhood, and she particularly liked to hear how feisty she had been …
—Lorene Cary, Black Ice, 1991
The novel features a feisty heroine.
Even her opponents admire her feisty spirit.
Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 23 June 2024
And the conversation was a feisty one, with the participants veering frequently to former President Trump.
—CBS News, 23 June 2024
Daily Horoscope for March 07, 2024 Biden uses feisty State of the Union to contrast with Trump, sell voters on a second term
Uvalde parents angered by new report that clears city police of missteps during Texas school attack
International Women’s Day is a celebration and call to action.
—Hartford Courant, 13 June 2024
Things starting to get feisty A scrum broke out after an Edmonton goal was called off after the referees ruled the whistle was blown before the Oilers’ Connor Brown tried to get a loose puck past Sergei Bobrovsky.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 9 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for feisty 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'feisty.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Feisty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feisty. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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