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.
More than 25 regional breweries, cideries and meaderies will be pouring, including a number of D.C. favorites; Stillwater, RAR and Union of Maryland; and Ornery, Three Notch’d and Adventure of Virginia.
From Washington Post • Oct. 20, 2016
"I am reporting to New York members of the Ornery Men's Club the acquisition of a new and noble member—Governor 'Alfalfa Bill— Murray of Oklahoma," said Clubfounder Volney T. Hoggatt of Denver.
From Time Magazine Archive
In Alaska, in 1900, he founded the Ornery and Worthless Men's Club of America.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some qualifications for Ornery Club membership: wearing "good luck" galluses; finger-jabbing people in the chest while conversing; messing in the kitchen; carrying love charms; wearing No. 17 celluloid collars on No. 15 neckbands; general orneriness.
From Time Magazine Archive
Ornery days it takes me, an alarum clock, an' Mary, to say nothin' of a wet sponge, to get her out of bed.
From Back to Billabong by Bruce, Mary Grant
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.
