ornery
[awr-nuh-ree]
- ugly and unpleasant in disposition or temper: No one can get along with my ornery cousin.
- stubborn: I can't do a thing with that ornery mule.
- low or vile.
- inferior or common; ordinary.
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Origin of ornery
First recorded in 1790–1800; contraction of ordinary
Synonyms
See more synonyms for ornery on Thesaurus.com1. mean, ill-tempered, ill-natured, surly, testy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ornery
Contemporary Examples
The characters you play on the show are extremely diverse—ranging from a cocaine-rattled rich boy to an ornery Jewish grandpa.
The budding relationship between the ornery sexagenarian and the precocious young child ultimately gives the film its momentum.
He's an ornery cuss kind of Republican, extremely critical of Bush and Cheney back in the day.
Conard, the ornery lone researcher and writer, demands more of himself.
She was irritable and ornery almost all of the time, and she seemed to be trying to distance herself from the others.
Inside Tania Head’s Terrible 9/11 Lie: ‘The Woman Who Wasn’t There’Robin Gaby Fisher, Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr.
April 6, 2012
Historical Examples
It certainly is the home camp of some of the most ornery reptiles, that a-way!
Faro Nell and Her FriendsAlfred Henry Lewis
To 'n ornery gentleman—of the road or what you will—I'm not, if so be he's the necessary.
RomanceJoseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer
They're little an' young an' they ain't never done nothin' ornery.
The Gold GirlJames B. Hendryx
The other fellow was about thirty, and dressed about as ornery.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, CompleteMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
He ain't no ornery, bloomin' skipper, nor Calamity ain't his name.
Captain CalamityRolf Bennett
ornery
- stubborn or vile-tempered
- low; treacherousan ornery trick
- ordinary
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Word Origin
C19: alteration of ordinary
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ornery
adj.
1816, American English dialectal contraction of ordinary (adj.). "Commonplace," hence "of poor quality, coarse, ugly." By c.1860 the sense had evolved to "mean, cantankerous." Related: Orneriness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper