orneriness

noun

Definition of ornerinessnext
as in cantankerousness

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for orneriness
  1. surliness
  2. crankiness
  3. grouchiness
  4. petulance
  5. grumpiness
  6. irritability
  7. crustiness
  8. perversity
Noun
  • Despite Nora’s initial surliness, Alice wins her over a bit by offering her blazer to a young witness who is supposed to appear in court the next day.
    — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 27 July 2026
  • Dani’s surliness has evaporated.
    — Harpers Magazine, Harpers Magazine, 23 Sep. 2025
Definition of surliness
Noun
  • How to handle it A lot of Virgo’s crankiness can be soothed with helping them get organized and practice self-compassion.
    — Maressa Brown, Parents, 18 June 2026
  • Bumping into someone wasn’t met with frustration, but with a grin and a comment about the Knicks, as if the entire city had agreed to give each other a pass from the stereotypical crankiness for one single night.
    — Antonio Ferme, Variety, 14 June 2026
Definition of crankiness
Noun
  • Vince Gilligan moved to Apple and returned to his X-Files roots for the sci-fi horror dramatic comedy Pluribus, which used its ultra-mysterious and yet ultra-familiar genre trappings for a droll meditation on the eternal clash between collective joy and individual grouchiness.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 17 Nov. 2025
  • Emily is also struggling with Annabelle, who has inherited her mom’s attitude and the grouchiness of any adolescent forced to grow up with an Evolution Media camera crew in her home.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2025
Definition of grouchiness
Noun
  • Cusick and Kretschmann offer complementary chords of variable petulance and insecurity, as newcomer Cuoso ably negotiates her character’s shifting ambiguities.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 July 2026
  • France’s challenges came from external provocation, first the petulance of the Paraguayan team, but then comments widely condemned as racist by a Paraguayan politician.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 16 July 2026
Definition of petulance
Noun
  • Newcastle just about hauled themselves back from the precipice, but this has been a faith-shaker of a season and, at times, grumpiness has set in.
    — George Caulkin, New York Times, 25 May 2026
  • Allowing your child to sleep as normal will prevent grumpiness and diminish jet lag.
    — Jordi Lippe-McGraw, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Feb. 2017
Definition of grumpiness
Noun
  • Hunger can amplify low moods, irritability and worry, which is not what any nervous child needs before walking into a new classroom.
    — Ashley Lynch, Miami Herald, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Psychological withdrawal symptoms can include anxiety and irritability, dependence and insomnia.
    — Don Sweeney, Sacbee.com, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of irritability
Noun
  • There’s probably not much of a mystery bubbling around the pizza plaza’s sudden crustiness toward the Super Bowl.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Use disposable products like gauze or cotton swabs to gently remove build-up or crustiness.
    — Sherri Gordon, Health, 24 Oct. 2025
Definition of crustiness
Noun
  • The movie is essentially an old-fashioned story of one lad’s sentimental education, spiced up with NSFW perversity.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 30 July 2026
  • This week, at the men’s Summer 2027 Saint Laurent show in Paris, creative director Anthony Vaccarello showed a collection of quiet perversity disrupted by a starling pair of foot-baring shoes.
    — Rachel Tashjian, CNN Money, 26 June 2026
Definition of perversity
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.

Browse Nearby Words

ornateness
orneriness
ornery
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Cite this Entry

“Orneriness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/orneriness. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

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