How to Use unruly in a Sentence

unruly

adjective
  • But the hair in his armpits is too long and unruly now.
    Hurmat Kazmi, The Atlantic, 23 Nov. 2021
  • The ocelot proved unruly and was shipped out to the Portland Zoo.
    David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Dec. 2020
  • This unruly, badass look is for only the coolest of cool.
    Ann Wang, Seventeen, 9 Nov. 2022
  • The young Hanks plays Travis Bugg, an unruly point guard for the Waves.
    EW.com, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Get unruly hairs in line with this soft-hold wax stick.
    Tatjana Freund, ELLE, 15 Dec. 2022
  • The more flesh, the more dangerous and unruly the body became.
    Virgie Tovar, refinery29.com, 29 Mar. 2022
  • Not so this time in the unruly wake of the U.S. retreat from Kabul in August 2021.
    Time, 3 Dec. 2022
  • Made Pretty, to tells us how to refresh the area of the home that tends to become the most unruly — the closet.
    Ryan Conner, Dallas News, 19 Jan. 2023
  • As in Melville, worlds collide amid the unruly frictions of men on the margins.
    Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2022
  • Before the trim, the pup had an unruly white curly mane that covered her eyes.
    Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025
  • Their personas seem derived from the unruly and edgy rockstars of the past.
    Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Of course, these tweezers don’t just work on blood-sucking bugs and unruly brows.
    Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 9 Sep. 2023
  • When faced with harsh weather or unruly terrain, clothing should be the thing that saves the day—not spoils it.
    Lauren Matison, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Dec. 2022
  • If the pile becomes unruly, two smaller heaps work just as well.
    Allison Duncan, WSJ, 22 Mar. 2022
  • Last year, back-to-back shootings left two dead and brought unruly crowds to the streets prompting a state of emergency.
    USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2024
  • This technique is most often used to shape up an unruly shrub.
    Beth Botts, chicagotribune.com, 6 Feb. 2022
  • The limbs erupted from the seat and desktop, in all directions — strange, unruly, alive.
    New York Times, 13 Jan. 2022
  • Real life is merely scenery and footage, and the people who happen to get in the way of it, unruly extras.
    Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 19 Oct. 2024
  • Martha, again in the mid-1990s, ably demonstrating the only proper way to prune an unruly tree.
    Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 29 Oct. 2024
  • For a long time, Martha Stewart kept the lid on the more unruly details of her personal life sealed tight.
    Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 30 Oct. 2024
  • The curtains blew in all night, and the surf was incessant, unruly, and somehow soothing.
    Peter Heller, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Jan. 2024
  • Genetic changes to the DNA within cells may start this unruly process.
    Corey Whelan, Verywell Health, 21 Oct. 2024
  • Your unruly subjects will bow down to you as the queen in Alice in Wonderland.
    Mariah Thomas, Good Housekeeping, 8 June 2022
  • With his head in his hands, fingers scraping through the thick, unruly brown locks, and breath shuddering from the tight line of his lips.
    Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 26 Mar. 2024
  • One that’s been kidnapped, bound and gagged by an unruly gang of roasted garlic cloves.
    Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 16 Mar. 2021
  • Step back and look at the shrub and remove any unruly shoots back to a bud or lateral branch that take away from the plant's overall shape.
    Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 12 Feb. 2025
  • Art looks great within its arcades (never mind the glare from its unruly neighbor), and the café is among the most pleasant places to sit in the city.
    Mark Lamster, Dallas News, 18 Dec. 2020
  • Since counter-culture boomed in the 60s and 70s, the grass in the center of the racetrack has morphed into an often obscure and unruly place.
    Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 27 Apr. 2021
  • Ole Miss, a game that was marred by unruly fan behavior in the waning minutes.
    Evan Hilbert, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2021
  • The situation was now across the street into the Compton area, and (these were) the unruly folks — that Saturday night crowd.
    Alaa Elassar, CNN Money, 9 June 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unruly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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