crabbed
Grouchy and tight-fisted
Crabbed describes handwriting that is cramped, irregular, and difficult to read: His crabbed script filled the margins.
The word also means ill-tempered or irritable, like a crab's sideways, pinching manner: a crabbed old professor who tolerated no questions.
Both senses suggest something twisted or hard to deal with.
Irritable in temperament
- testyShort-tempered, easily provoked
- peevishHabitually fretful
- crankyIll-tempered and peevish
- petulantChildishly bad-tempered
querulous · snappish · touchy · irascible · cross · tetchy · grouchy · churlish
Careless, illegible writing
- scribbleWrite without care
- illegibleCannot be read
- unreadableCannot be deciphered
- indecipherableImpossible to understand
spidery · cramped · tiny · scratchy · messy · untidy · jagged · angular
grumpy
Irritable in temperament
petulant · querulous · snappish · touchy · irascible · cross · tetchy · grouchy · churlish · cantankerous
scrawl
Careless, illegible writing
- scribbleWrite without care
- illegibleCannot be read
- unreadableCannot be deciphered
indecipherable · spidery · cramped · tiny · scratchy · messy · untidy · jagged · angular · crooked
constricted
Made narrower by pressure
- tightFirmly stretched or fitting
- confinedKept within bounds
- restrictedLimited in scope
squeezed · narrow · compact · compressed · pinched · small · awkward · crowded · dense · congested