as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
an ornery old man who always yells at the neighborhood kids to keep off his lawn
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ornery
Gene Hackman was famously ornery on the set of The Royal Tenenbaums, and Anderson has talked about being intimidated by the two-time Oscar winner.
—
Joe Reid, Vulture, 12 June 2025
Kitty: And grandpa, oh, who is like a lovely but ornery Irish man,
Sean: takes one look at the Harry Krishnas, looks at dad like, looks at the Christians again.
—Outside Online, 11 June 2025
But when Chief, the ornery stray, gets overruled into helping his pack assist a boy who’s crash-landed on their trash island, Cranston really nails it.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 12 June 2025
The ornery character actor Richard Kind is his announcer, barking non sequiturs from behind a podium.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ornery
Joe Reid, Vulture, 12 June 2025
Kitty: And grandpa, oh, who is like a lovely but ornery Irish man,
Sean: takes one look at the Harry Krishnas, looks at dad like, looks at the Christians again.
—Outside Online, 11 June 2025
But when Chief, the ornery stray, gets overruled into helping his pack assist a boy who’s crash-landed on their trash island, Cranston really nails it.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 12 June 2025
The ornery character actor Richard Kind is his announcer, barking non sequiturs from behind a podium.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ornery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ornery
Adjective
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Not surprisingly, then, these films are usually littered with bums and losers — people who really should have moved on with their lives — possessing irritable personalities, cynical worldviews, or hilarious delusions of grandeur.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
25 July 2025
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People become irritable, withdrawn, or hyper-independent.—
Barnaby Lashbrooke,
Forbes.com,
23 June 2025
Adjective
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Freed of her caring duties, angry and uncertain about her future Karl gets on a Greyhound bus and heads to Las Vegas where Jean is working as a waitress at the El Cortez.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Aug. 2025
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The family defended themselves against an angry mob of hundreds of people who surrounded the house, throwing rocks and threatening the family, Duggan said.—
Dana Afana,
Freep.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Smith plays Hanna, a cantankerous nonagenarian, who patrols the Golden Gate Bridge every day and intervenes when people get too close to the edge.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
6 Aug. 2025
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The comedic elements of Eleanor the Great work mostly because of Squibb’s solid performance as the sometimes cantankerous and slightly overbearing mother.—
Lovia Gyarkye,
HollywoodReporter,
20 May 2025
Adjective
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Anna’s surly 15-year-old daughter Harper (Julia Butters) is vehemently opposed to the possibility of being uprooted and moved to London.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Aug. 2025
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This is because, little under a year after being handed a landslide majority by the U.K. electorate, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is deeply unpopular and thrashing around for ways to appease a surly and resentful public.—
Ian King,
CNBC,
11 June 2025
Adjective
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Even though his bloodwork looked normal six months previously, sudden onset or acute renal failure can happen in an old dog for no apparent reason other than age and result in bilious vomiting.—
Dr. John De Jong,
Boston Herald,
8 June 2025
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Under Nézet-Séguin, the musicians do the job spectacularly, releasing all those bilious harmonies and seething rhythms in an unbroken two-hour spasm of excitement.—
Justin Davidson,
Vulture,
30 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Over the weekend, reports emerged that the higher tariffs followed a disagreeable Thursday phone call between Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Trump — which Swiss officials rejected, according to Reuters.—
Sophie Kiderlin,Jenni Reid,
CNBC,
4 Aug. 2025
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Trump and his supporters prefer a happy history, a pleasant history that arouses patriotism by overlooking disagreeable people and despicable events that sully the nation’s reputation and mar the magnificence of the American story.—
William C. Hine,
Twin Cities,
23 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ornery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ornery. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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