as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
an ill-humored person should probably not take a job that requires dealing with the public
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ill-humored
Adjective
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Most cases clear up on their own without complications, but parents should contact a doctor if a child cannot keep fluids down, has a high fever lasting more than a few days or seems unusually drowsy or irritable.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
29 Oct. 2025 -
Also known as irritable hip, the condition is due to inflammation of the hip joint lining.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Robby is angry at himself for not seeing it.—
Senior Television,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2026
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None of the referees appeared to be struck by the objects being thrown on the court, despite video showing a windfall of debris raining down from the angry crowd.—
Sean Neumann,
PEOPLE,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Meanwhile, the commentator and controversialist Piers Morgan, an obsessively close observer and relentless critic of Meghan, inevitably waded in with his usual splenetic views.—
Sarah Lyall,
New York Times,
17 Sep. 2022
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And while there is enough splenetic wit and manic detail to generate obsessive fandom (entire sections of Web sites are dedicated to deciphering just what Kenny is mumbling), subjects like alien abduction, genetic engineering, and Kathie Lee are hardly original targets for satire.—
Chris Norris,
SPIN,
13 Aug. 2022
Adjective
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In Christmas Vacation, Marshall portrayed Ellen's cantankerous father, Art Smith.—
Kate Hogan,
PEOPLE,
26 Dec. 2025
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Iran’s cantankerous elite came together, and the public remained passive.—
Ray Takeyh,
Foreign Affairs,
4 Dec. 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
Adjective
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But Kael sensed in her less dyspeptic moments that there was something special about Redford.—
Stephen Galloway,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Sun shrinking and getting hotter; everything bilious, oxygenless, not great for living.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
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Minaj’s bilious flurry is possibly related to claims that she is owed between $100 to 200 million related to her stake in Tidal, the music streaming service launched and spearheaded by Jay-Z in 2015 and was sold to Jack Dorsey’s company Square for $297 million in 2021.—
Andrew Flanagan,
Variety,
15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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With its abundance of concrete, startling interior views, and play of deep shadows, the design invokes the ornery inventiveness of Kahn and Paul Rudolph, combined with the corporate sleekness of MoMA’s most recent iterations by Yoshio Taniguchi and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
3 Nov. 2025
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At 0-2, the Chiefs may be a little more ornery than usual.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
22 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Ill-humored.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ill-humored. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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