as in play
the attitude or behavior of one who insincerely courts the amorous attentions of others
a literary heroine covering grit and guile underneath her kittenishness
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kittenishness
Noun
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Shamet was fouled on the play and missed the and-one free throw, but second-year backup big man Ariel Hukporti grabbed the offensive rebound to create a second shot opportunity.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
2 Apr. 2026 -
The play, like the movie, is loosely based on a robbery that took place in 1972, on a boiling-hot August day, when an eccentric, deep-in-debt Vietnam veteran named John Wojtowicz entered a Chase bank in Brooklyn with a gun and two accomplices, hoping for a quick score.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The cast’s sole survivor is Jessica Hecht, who pours miraculous warmth and complexity into her faintly insulting role as Colleen, the head teller, a morally upright spinster goosed by her flirtation with Sonny and the spotlight.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
2 Apr. 2026
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One of the central narratives of season ten, filmed last summer, is the ongoing flirtation between Wilson and Miller, despite Miller’s residual humiliation at the way he’d dismissed her in the press after their breakup.—
Rebecca Jennings,
Vulture,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
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There is her coyness about her future plans, and her own recent memoir.—
Nathan Heller,
New Yorker,
1 Feb. 2026
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The Hunting Wives strips away any coyness about sexuality in the first three minutes of episode one.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
Noun
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The three-inch heels that the women wear when performing the dance are visible at the bottom of the skirt—a demure bit of coquetry.—
Fernanda Pérez Sánchez,
Vogue,
8 Aug. 2022
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In other words, the most dizzying and most consequential storyline of Michigan’s offseason — Harbaugh’s coquetry with the Minnesota Vikings notwithstanding — is going to linger a while longer.—
Michael Cohen,
Detroit Free Press,
27 July 2022
Noun
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Evocative animation, with subdued blue hues and soft lighting, conveys the flirtatiousness of their rapid connection in a scene where the two swim together in a pool at night.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
23 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Kittenishness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kittenishness. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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