noun

pĕtŭlantĭa

gen. pĕtŭlantiae · gender feminine · decl. 1st

sauciness; freakishness; impudence ••

Lit., sauciness, freakishness, impudence, wantonness, petulance (class.; syn. lascivia): itaque a petendo petulantia, a procando, id est poscendo, procacitas nominata est, Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. 23, 18: petulantia et libido magis est adulescentium quam senum, id. Sen. 11, 36: petulantia et audacia, id. Caecin. 35, 103; cf.: te non ulla meae laesit petulantia linguae, Prop. 1, 16, 37.—In plur.: Naevius ... cum ob assiduam maledicentiam et probra in principes civitatis ... in vincula conjectus esset ... in his fabulis, delicta sua et petulantias dictorum, quibus multos ante laeserat, diluisset, insolent language, libels, Gell. 3, 3, 15.—

carelessness; heedlessness •

In a milder sense, carelessness, heedlessness (ante-class.): linguae, Suet. Tib. 61; Plaut. Cist. 4, 2, 3.—

by extension

viciousness •

Of animals, viciousness: cornuti fere perniciosi sunt propter petulantiam, Col. 7, 6, 4.—

exuberance; luxuriance •

Of things, exuberance, luxuriance: ramorum, Plin. 16, 30, 53, § 124: morbi, violence, Gell. 12, 5, 9.

Perseus ID: n35853 Key: petulantia