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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ornery
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
That ornery cleric was Moqtada al-Sadr, the son of Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr, a grand ayatollah assassinated almost certainly by Saddam’s order in 1999.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
Their aggressive, ornery, and unpredictable nature has earned them the nickname Black Death.
—Kris Millgate, Outdoor Life, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ornery
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
That ornery cleric was Moqtada al-Sadr, the son of Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr, a grand ayatollah assassinated almost certainly by Saddam’s order in 1999.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
Their aggressive, ornery, and unpredictable nature has earned them the nickname Black Death.
—Kris Millgate, Outdoor Life, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ornery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ornery
Adjective
-
Rather than get irritable online, Medeiros did something positive about it.—
Dan Medeiros,
The Herald News,
27 Feb. 2026
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Manic episodes are described as prolonged periods of mood instability, in which a person can experience extreme increases in energy or euphoria, or alternatively, feel depressed or unusually irritable.—
Edward Segarra,
USA Today,
24 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Burkle alleges that Anderson stopped paying him in 2014 after becoming angry with him over an unspecified personal dispute, the complaint states.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Mar. 2026
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Our tormentor is angry the state chose Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 and has not met his demands to stop mail-in voting and release his supporter and fellow election denier Tina Peters from prison.—
Krista Kafer,
Denver Post,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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High pop flys in left field during day games at the club’s spring ballpark have proven at times to be a cantankerous venture.—
Shawn McFarland,
Dallas Morning News,
22 Feb. 2026
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Close leads the series as Maud Oldcastle, an older woman described as cantankerous and also a killer.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The actor, who portrays surly Russian hockey captain Ilya Rozanov in the show, is in no way, shape or form Russian, and learned to speak the language rather flawlessly in just three weeks before filming.—
Dan Heching,
CNN Money,
28 Feb. 2026
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The booms from the ice cracking sounded like a chorus of slamming doors, as if Poseidon had hundreds of surly teenagers living underwater with him.—
Robert Annis,
Outside,
24 Feb. 2026
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
-
The day was cold and disagreeable, disappointing those who hoped for warm, sunny weather for the contest between Bogardus and Carver.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
24 Feb. 2026
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This will also result in a disagreeable flavor most people will not enjoy.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
12 Feb. 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 11 Mar. 2026.
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