CATTY (cattier, cattiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: cattier    , cattiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does catty mean? 

• CATTY (noun)
  The noun CATTY has 1 sense:

1. any of various units of weight used in southeastern Asia (especially a Chinese measure equal to 500 grams)

  Familiarity information: CATTY used as a noun is very rare.

• CATTY (adjective)
  The adjective CATTY has 1 sense:

1. marked by or arising from malice

  Familiarity information: CATTY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CATTY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various units of weight used in southeastern Asia (especially a Chinese measure equal to 500 grams)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

cattie; catty

Hypernyms ("catty" is a kind of...):

weight; weight unit (a unit used to measure weight)

Domain region:

Cathay; China; Communist China; mainland China; People's Republic of China; PRC; Red China (a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world)

• CATTY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by or arising from malice

Synonyms:

bitchy; cattish; catty

Context example:

a catty remark

Similar:

malicious (having the nature of or resulting from malice)

Derivation:

cat (a spiteful woman gossip)

cattiness (malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty)

 Context examples 

Kreis came to Martin one day—Kreis, of the real dirt; and Martin turned to him with relief, to receive the glowing details of a scheme sufficiently wild-catty to interest him as a fictionist rather than an investor.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)