as in cantankerous
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for curmudgeonly
Adjective
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Oldman’s performance in the show has been widely praised and he’s earned both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for playing the cantankerous head of Slough House, Jackson Lamb.—
Keith Langston,
People.com,
23 Mar. 2025 -
The trust's extensive provisions are just an example of Barnes' quirky and often cantankerous nature.—
Blake Gopnik,
Newsweek,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Image Our collective longing to connect with animals is evident in the viral popularity of animal celebrities on social media — who can resist Pesto the chubby baby king penguin, Hua Hua the panda or Moo Deng, the ornery baby pygmy hippo?—
Alexandra Alter,
New York Times,
23 Mar. 2025
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Fitzgerald, 75, his daughter Heather Valdez, 53, and their team of family members, co-workers and an ornery parrot named Cisco have kept this wacky thrift-consignment-retail store afloat.—
Amanda Rosa,
Miami Herald,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Trying to Kill Each Other' And Walken is marvelous — querulous, petty, cruel — as the Emperor.—
Tom Gliatto,
Peoplemag,
29 Feb. 2024
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Instead, Gerwig and Baumbach promote querulous sloganeering.—
Armond White,
National Review,
19 July 2023
Adjective
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An example: Sip and Polina have been thrown into Ian Mayfair’s home prison (a must for every supernatural villain property), complete with iron bars and a surly watchman, but this turns out to be an extremely minor setback.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
2 Mar. 2025
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The Sum of a Career in Spaceflight Schirra had announced his plans to retire from NASA before the Apollo 7 flight, and a successful (if surly) mission, topped off with an Emmy Award and a Deep Draft Command certificate, wasn’t a bad way to wrap up a nine-year career at the agency.—
Kiona N. Smith,
Forbes,
12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The setting is practically an Elizabethan skatepark, well suited to the clashes between Romeo’s and Juliet’s irascible relatives and excitable pals.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
29 Apr. 2025
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Nottingham Forest, European champions in the two previous campaigns under the management of the irascible but brilliant Brian Clough, wanted to sign him — as did Liverpool.—
Tom Burrows,
New York Times,
27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Patrick is crotchety and dismissive of their overtures at first, but Bob and Jean talk him around with their passionate belief in the project and intriguing early research.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
3 Sep. 2019
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There are no shaky limbs in Wolfs, though there are some creaky joints, and an Advil joke—because aches and pains are a thing men can joke about, charmingly, while women who do the same run the risk of coming off as crotchety old complainers.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
20 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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Befriending Cressida Cowper is a respectable exercise in recognizing biases, but the pair’s interactions are as disagreeable as those bangs.—
Zoe Haylock,
Vulture,
16 May 2024
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If Alex has a bit more credibility, not being as intractable in her positions, both have a tendency to come off as disagreeable in their incessant bickering and self-righteousness.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In the Nineties, the report became a staple in the bilious feedstock of right-wing militias, part of a slurry of propaganda that turned legitimate grievances into the conviction that FEMA agents in unmarked black helicopters were soon to enact a new world order.—
Dan Piepenbring,
Harper's Magazine,
19 Feb. 2025
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The death chamber is nine feet by twelve feet, painted a bilious turquoise.—
Lawrence Wright,
The New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Curmudgeonly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/curmudgeonly. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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