ornery

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

Definition of ornery

ornerier; orneriest

:having an irritable disposition :cantankerous

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orneriness

noun

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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
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, Harp, 1989
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

Managing monster egos and ornery clients was one of his strengths.

— kate kelly, New York Times, "James Staley’s Series of Unfortunate Events," 26 Aug. 2017
But, much like the 2015 expedition where Boyes almost got killed when a hippo flipped over his canoe, the Cubango River is still home to ornery hippos.

— shaena montanari, National Geographic, "Unexplored African Lakes Reveal Hidden World," 31 July 2017
The gator, estimated to be about 6 feet long, was ornery and Vargas had to use a couple of methods before finally being able to grab it.

— doug phillips, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Cop grapples with 6-foot gator on front porch of Boynton home," 27 July 2017
No ornery waves wiggling out of ponytails, or licking the base of the neck.

— stella bugbee, The Cut, "This Nontoxic Hair-Straightening Process Is Saving Me From Summer Frizz," 21 July 2017
Now in its third and final week, the riders are sunburnt, tired, ornery, and sick of stuffing their faces with enough food just to make it through the next day.

— bill bradley, Bon Appetit, "Tour de France Cyclists Are Eating More Vegetables Than You Think," 20 July 2017
But the coach is -really excited about his center, Clyde (Bulldog) Turner, an ornery cuss out of Plains, Texas, and Hardin-Simmons College, who played center and linebacker for the Bears from 1940 through ’52.

— tim layden, SI.com, "The MMQB All-Time Draft: The Ultimate Football Fantasy," 19 July 2017
But winter is still cold and dust is still dry, and Paul Nettleton, the ranch’s 67-year-old, fourth-generation owner, still throws ornery calves to the ground the way his great-grandfather did.

— zach kyle, idahostatesman, "Water-rights victory made this Idaho ranch owner a ‘rock star’," 18 July 2017
Others become ornery or lose their inhibitions in public.

— jessica wapner, Newsweek, "As Rural America Faces an Onslaught of Alzheimer's Disease, States Look to Radical Ways to Help," 1 June 2017

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."