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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Recent Examples of ornery
Sometimes he’d be sent out to deal with the more ornery guests in an effort to calm them.
—
Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2026
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
At 0-2, the Chiefs may be a little more ornery than usual.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 22 Sep. 2025
The goal is to capitalize on the holidays when kids will be out of school and eager to see some ornery avians.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ornery
Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2026
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
At 0-2, the Chiefs may be a little more ornery than usual.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 22 Sep. 2025
The goal is to capitalize on the holidays when kids will be out of school and eager to see some ornery avians.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ornery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ornery
Adjective
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That’s because the Moon is at odds with Mars today and everyone is irritable.—
Georgia Nicols,
Denver Post,
7 May 2026
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What are the symptoms of irritable bowel disease?—
Lindy Segal,
PEOPLE,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The issue prompted an angry Trump to directly press Makary over the vapes decisions, two people familiar with the episode said.—
Sarah Owermohle,
CNN Money,
8 May 2026
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Are some people angry that a children’s book author would cuss in an adult novel?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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Madge Gates Wallace was 98 years old, nearly deaf and famously cantankerous.—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2026
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Silverman joins Sullivan's Crossing as Quincy Carlson, a cantankerous camper.—
Christopher Rudolph,
PEOPLE,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Our protagonist, the surly and depressed writer Ohm, has been stuck on the ending to his book series featuring a conquistador lost in the desert with a young companion and a map trapped inside a bottle.—
Katie Walsh,
Twin Cities,
2 May 2026
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Our protagonist, the surly and depressed writer Ohm, has been stuck on the ending to his book series featuring a conquistador lost in the desert with a young companion and a map trapped inside a bottle.—
Katie Walsh,
Boston Herald,
1 May 2026
Adjective
-
Sun shrinking and getting hotter; everything bilious, oxygenless, not great for living.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
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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This is because there is a meaningful difference between disagreeing and being disagreeable.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
7 Apr. 2026
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Another bill would put regulations around data centers, although lawmakers in the final days stripped out some of the language that tech companies found disagreeable.—
Garrett Shanley,
Miami Herald,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Better is Danny Elfman’s spartan and fraught score, particularly the dyspeptic drums.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Jan. 2026
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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
Cite this Entry
“Ornery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ornery. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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