ornery
22
8.5
- adjective
- /ˈɔrnəri/
- Informal
:
gruñón
- She can be quite ornery when she's tired and doesn't get her way.
They're more relaxed, less ornery, and so right.
- They're more relaxed, less ornery, and so right.
- And, and so this is just one of the ways I was being ornery and just rebelling against my, my loss.
Examples
-
So you're gonna be ornery for the crowds now, huh?
-
You don't need to get ornery now.
-
Even if he did do it, she was so mean and ornery, she had it coming to her.
-
There was no internal damage, and he was back to his ornery self by the next day.
Blog text (27) -
Well, she gets angry, she gets ornery, and she's got to process it.
-
I miss old yancey, the ornery old son of a gun.
-
Think you can deal with tough, ornery cowpokes day in and day out?
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That's what you get for acting ornery.
-
When she navigates and we begin to lose our way, I immediately become so ornery.
Fiction book (1998) -
I persisted, smarting from the evening's revelations and inclined to be just as ornery and obnoxious as he normally was.
Fiction book (2000)
Synonyms
117
4.2
Easily annoyed and upset when tired or hungry
32
3.7
Quick to become annoyed or angry
24
7.2
A person who is unfriendly and often angry in a rough or threatening way
24
5.4
Feeling easily annoyed and in a bad mood
19
8.2
Acting easily annoyed and impatient about small things
18
9.6
Quick to become annoyed and show a bad mood
9
8.6
Gets angry easily and often argues with people
7
9.9
Being hard to control and easily annoyed, often causing trouble
6
8.8
Often in a bad mood and easily annoyed by small things
5
8.6
Quick to become angry, often at small things
4
4.2
Quick to get angry or easily annoyed
4
5.7
Easily annoyed and quick to get angry
3
9.5
Often bad-tempered and easily annoyed, like a grumpy older person
3
3.5
Quick to get angry or annoyed
2
9.1
Gets angry easily about small things
1
6.0
To become angry quickly and easily
1
9.6
Quick to become angry and often bad-tempered
1
9.8
Easily annoyed and likely to argue or be unhelpful
1
9.7
Feeling annoyed and in a bad mood
1
9.9
Easily annoyed and quick to complain about small things
1
8.9
Being rude and getting upset by small things
1
9.9
Quick to become angry or take offense
Being easily annoyed and often unkind to others
Becoming easily annoyed and acting in a bad-tempered way
Not willing to be patient with other people
Refuses to cooperate to cause trouble
Antonyms
How Bad-Tempered
- Formal
5
8.6
24
7.2
9
8.6
- Informal
22
8.5
32
3.7
76
1.7
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word ornery comes from a spoken form of ordinary used in American speech, where people often said ordinary like 'ornery'. Over time the idea moved from 'common' to 'rough or stubborn', so that's why ornery now means 'bad-tempered' or 'difficult'.