ornery
Americanadjective
-
ugly and unpleasant in disposition or temper.
No one can get along with my ornery cousin.
- Synonyms:
- testy, surly, ill-natured, ill-tempered, mean
-
stubborn.
I can't do a thing with that ornery mule.
-
low or vile.
-
inferior or common; ordinary.
adjective
-
stubborn or vile-tempered
-
low; treacherous
an ornery trick
-
ordinary
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ornery
First recorded in 1790–1800; contraction of ordinary
Explanation
To be ornery is to be grumpy and hard to please. Oscar the Grouch? Definitely ornery. The adjective ornery sprung up in the early 19th century when people started pronouncing ordinary with an accent. The root of ordinary is the Latin word for “order,” and if you disrupt the orderly existence of an ornery person, prepare to get yelled at. A person can have a consistently ornery personality, or maybe you’re feeling ornery today because you skipped breakfast. Some synonyms for ornery are cantankerous and crotchety, words that sound as grumpy as the people they describe.
Vocabulary lists containing ornery
Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Walk Two Moons
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But O’Neill’s 1921 drama poses ornery challenges for an actress—and not just because Greta Garbo immortalized the role in her first “talkie.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
“It was in the last five years that they’ve really become a nuisance,” homeowner Sara Alden told CBS2 about one ornery ursine that had recently broken into her family’s home and tore up the place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2024
It falls to Asha, her quirky friends, an ornery talking goat sidekick and a cute fallen star to rebel against Magnifico to get the wishes back.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2023
With his wild, Einsteinian coif, Romantic poet adoration and cryptic, sometimes ornery nature, Dylan is often held up as an emblematic example of the modern male genius.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
Maybe Nothing would have been a little less ornery if I’d given him a proper name.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Brustein’s universalism grew ornerier and more claustrophobic with age.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2023
He was mebby thinking how much ornerier that would make the hull scheme.
From Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis
Pitching in the brilliant sunshine July sunshine with temperatures in the low 80s, the orneriest of the Mariners starters delivered an outstanding performance in a season filled with them.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2023
In a family with six children, Bob wasn’t the oldest Stoops child - that title belongs to brother Ron Jr. - but Kathy says Bob was the edgiest, the feistiest, the orneriest.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 4, 2017
“Colleen was the orneriest one in the pool, but boy, could she swim!”
From Washington Times ● Jan. 7, 2017
It's typical of the venom-tipped but still lyrical reflections stashed throughout the 15 tunes on this high-velocity workout by one of the orneriest but most beguiling rockers in the neighborhood.
From Time Magazine Archive
I wasn’t ’bout to sneak no looks at Miss Daponte; ’twas well knowed that ’long with being the strongest woman in Possum Moan, she was also the orneriest one.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
