From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfeistyfeist‧y /ˈfaɪsti/ adjective DETERMINEDhaving a strong determined character and being willing to argue with people – use this to show approval DiFranco charmed the audience with her feisty spirit.► see thesaurus at determined
Examples from the Corpus
feisty• Riordan frequented the restaurant for 40 years, coming back for the food and the feisty attitude of the staff.• Pavlov was feisty in his opposition to the Soviets, but, aware of his fame, they were forced to ignore his insults.• This may encourage a few feisty individual shareholders to sue.• She's a pretty feisty kid, isn't she?• Take, for example, little old ladies prone to cute, feisty one-liners.Origin feisty (1800-1900) feist “small dog” ((1800-1900)) 