ornery

adjective or·nery \ ˈȯr-nə-rē , ˈär- ; ˈȯrn-rē , ˈärn- , ˈȯn- , ˈän- \

Updated on: 12 May 2018

Definition of ornery

ornerier; orneriest

1 a : having an irritable disposition : cantankerous

an ornery old man

Telling her that would have been an invitation to getting my head chopped off, because she was a mean, ornery number until the day she died.
— John Gregory Dunne

b : difficult to deal with or control

an ornery mule

… once made word processors so ornery that they caused secretaries to collapse in tears …
— Bro Uttal

… a bout with walking pneumonia and an ornery case of poison oak.
— Paul Francis

2 chiefly Midwest : having or showing a playful tendency to cause trouble : mischievous

an ornery smile

It had been fun to play a trick on those ornery boys. They were not bad boys: just wild things full of vim and vinegar who were trying to fill their time and show off.
— Connie Leonard Geron

… invited me to come take pictures at a little family tradition they have … A shaving cream war. They have a large family; so there were tons of kids of all ages there. I think what I loved most about this was the fact that the adults got just as ornery as the kids.
— Rebecca Haines

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orneriness

noun

See ornery defined for English-language learners

See ornery defined for kids

Examples of ornery in a Sentence

Based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit tells the true story of an ornery, undersize, beaten-up Thoroughbred who becomes a champion in the 1930s. —Lev Grossman, Time, 21 July 2003
Critics have compared his work to Faulkner's. And like Faulkner, McCarthy is an acquired taste as well as a palate cleanser. He's a stubborn, ornery writer, known for his ornate sentences, arcane vocabulary, casual disregard for standard punctuation and untranslated bits of foreign dialogue that offer little in the way of a narrative compass to guide readers along. —Sara Mosle, New York Times Book Review, 17 May 1998
I'm getting more and more ornery in my old age.
an ornery old man who always yells at the neighborhood kids to keep off his lawn

Recent Examples of ornery from the Web

An ornery house cat named Tiger is laid low by an enlarged bladder but keeps trying to live up to his name.

— mark athitakis, USA TODAY, "For this vet, sometimes the owners are the most difficult patients: New book," 17 Apr. 2018
Our next-door neighbor is someone most people would think of as an ornery old man – who is probably an alcoholic.

— amy dickinson, Detroit Free Press, "Less wine might make neighbor less ornery," 27 Mar. 2018
That’s a particular thing, that sort of cornball comedy, relocating the ornery hillbilly or farmer to another environment that is baffling to the city people.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "Publishing the Best of the Desert: An Interview With Ken Layne," 25 Apr. 2018
Could this be Ford’s ornery father in the unregistered Sector 17 cottage Arnold built for Ford as a way to remember his past?

— ashley hoffman, Time, "Will We See Dr. Ford in Westworld Season 2? Let's Discuss," 20 Apr. 2018
After a space lab carrying deadly experimental pathogens breaks up and crash-lands at various points on the U.S. map, the animals become infected, and mutate, and get ornery.

— michael phillips, chicagotribune.com, "'Rampage' review: Dwayne Johnson leads worst Chicago architecture tour EVER," 11 Apr. 2018
He’s been labeled — anonymously, of course — as ornery on the course and surly in the clubhouse.

— roy bragg, San Antonio Express-News, "SA native Reed is the same golf nerd he always was," 10 Apr. 2018
This ornery golf nerd might be the best thing that’s happened to the game.

— roy bragg, San Antonio Express-News, "SA native Reed is the same golf nerd he always was," 10 Apr. 2018
Nevin had been a fixture in the Villanova program, time and his illness transforming him from the ornery cuss who taped ankles into the resident prankster who dropped cigar butts in players’ sneakers before games.

— mike sielski, Philly.com, "Don't forget: Sister Jean is more than just a meme | Mike Sielski," 30 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ornery.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

What's the History of ornery?

Readers who are familiar with one of the more common senses of ornery ("irritable") might well be surprised to learn that the word is an alteration of the word ordinary, as this root word has little to do with feelings of peevishness. Yet this is the case, and there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for how this meaning came about.

Ornery was first used in American regional speech in the beginning of the 19th century as a simple variant of ordinary, and for some while it had the same meaning. Soon enough, however, it began to take on some of the more negative aspects of ordinary. It was used to describe things that were common, and especially common things of inferior quality. Next, it developed a sense synonymous with lazy. Those lazy folks dubbed "ornery" were also apparently easily annoyed and touchy. By the end of the 19th century ornery had taken on its now-common meaning of "cantankerous."