ILL-NATURED Synonyms: 83 Similar and Opposite Words

ill-natured

adjective

ˈil-ˈnā-chərd

Definition of ill-natured

as in irritable

having or showing a habitually bad temper an ill-natured and unpleasant old horse that sometimes bites

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of ill-natured Annalise, the most ill-natured guest to embark on the Bravado since the legendary Carlos, complains about the absence of truffles (not in season) on her pasta. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 20 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ill-natured

Adjective

And this new Godzilla, entirely computer-generated, is an irritable muscle of spikes and scales, or like a sort of angry gothic pineapple.

— Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 5 Nov. 2026
Murray says her own experience has made her more understanding when female colleagues seem more tired or irritable than usual, particularly when the behavior is out of character.

— Jo Ann Liguori, Flow Space, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of irritable

Adjective

Classical conservatism is about creating conditions for human flourishing, and the angry populism of the modern era is an unsatisfying substitute for older conservative ideas.

— Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 11 Nov. 2026
Sophie, 30, gets that the WNBA Mean Girls are busy catering to the angry purple-haired lesbians.

— Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Nov. 2026

Definition of angry

Adjective

Mistaking being disagreeable with the act of disagreeing is common - especially in unsafe psychological workplaces.

— Kate Wieczorek, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
There are also a lot of people who have never dreamed of being disagreeable in public, much less considered joining a raucous social movement.

— Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 12 June 2026

Definition of disagreeable

Adjective

The flashback structure doesn’t serve much of a purpose except to delay the audience’s complete endorsement of a character who, though appropriately cantankerous, is unambiguously a hero and nice guy.

— Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 2 Nov. 2026
Lyons recalled how Meyer and Davis transformed her own cantankerous vision — mushrooms beside saddles, faucets beside disco balls, moldings beside dog doors — into a cohesive design language.

— Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of cantankerous

Adjective

Ready to Wear, the bilious bomb of a film in which Robert Altman took aim at the fashion industry with an elephant gun—and missed.

— Charles Gandee, Vogue, 27 Sep. 2026
Look the steady coarsening of American civic and political culture and the ways in which the once-outrageous—the bilious, hateful rhetoric and the creeping authoritarianism—have become almost ordinary.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 July 2026

Definition of bilious

Adjective

Still, the internet nurtures these Hobbesian, splenetic views.

— Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, 24 May 2026
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

Definition of splenetic

Adjective

Once upon a time, the idea that the world was growing stupider was mostly confined to the realm of dyspeptic reactionary polemic.

— James Marriott, Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2026
Govan might prevail on Lucas to join as well, as an idiosyncratic and dyspeptic if public-minded voice.

— Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of dyspeptic

Adjective

White and Madison are sort of like Tom Cruise and Demi Moore, building a mountain of evidence against the company, while Strong is playing an ornery witness a la Jack Nicholson.

— Marcus Jones, IndieWire, 7 Oct. 2026
But however janky, the system just about works for the ornery menfolk muddling their way through it, with their many beefs mostly resolved with a bottle of lethally alcoholic local tipple chacha, or a punch to the face, or both.

— Jessica Kiang, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026

Definition of ornery

Browse Nearby Words

ill-mannered

ill-natured

ill-naturedly

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“Ill-natured.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ill-natured. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of ill-natured

adjective

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