surly
Americanadjective
-
churlishly rude or bad-tempered.
a surly waiter.
-
unfriendly or hostile; menacingly irritable.
a surly old lion.
- Synonyms:
- malevolent, threatening
-
dark or dismal; menacing; threatening.
a surly sky.
- Synonyms:
- ominous
-
Obsolete. lordly; arrogant.
adjective
-
sullenly ill-tempered or rude
-
(of an animal) ill-tempered or refractory
-
dismal
-
obsolete arrogant
Synonym Usage
See glum.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of surly
First recorded in 1560–70; spelling variant of obsolete sirly “lordly, arrogant,” equivalent to sir + -ly
Explanation
Surly describes behavior nobody wants to be around. Think of the irritable old guy who lives on your street and always seems to be simmering with some sullen nasty anger, whose every utterance he spits out with a rude snarl. He's the poster boy for surly. Surly behavior is always frowned upon, but the word's origins are in the behavior of English nobility. Surly's roots are in sirly, as in sir, meaning arrogant, haughty, and superior. Its current meaning implies all that and more, none of it appealing — rude, snotty, sullen, mean and cranky can be added to the list. Generally speaking, if you find yourself in a surly mood, avoid your friends and loved ones.
Vocabulary lists containing surly
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 7
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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.
I decided to bring my Surly Pugsley fat bike simply because I love my state of mind when I’m on it.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 8, 2025
The last time the Saints and Vikings hooked up, folks in Minnesota were toasting Stefon Diggs with steins of Surly, and people in Louisiana were crying in their gumbo.
From Washington Times • Oct. 25, 2018
They were called Beith and Gort, when they should really have been named Surly and Surlier.
From The Guardian • Apr. 10, 2017
“I didn’t say anything because people in our swimming federation used to say to me, ‘You don’t want to be Surly Shirley, do you?’” she said, referring to Babashoff.
From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2016
Or alerting anyone that she was interested in it, she realized, thinking about those men who must know she’s Surly Wombat.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
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.
