as in rebellion
refusal to obey
frustrated by the boys' unruliness, the lifeguard asked them to leave the pool
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Recent Examples of unruliness
In 2024, Buffett offered prescient reflections on the unruliness of the market, long before the prediction markets began to sway Wall Street.
—
Jacqueline Munis,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
Their sprawl and unruliness, their capacity to be anything.
—
Literary Hub,
23 Apr. 2026
In Olga Tokarczuk’s work, knowing how to pick mushrooms—organisms open to unruliness and interconnection and resistant to easy labeling—is a sign of good character.
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Christopher Tayler,
The New York Review of Books,
2 Oct. 2025
Any unruliness was saved for the sketches.
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Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
Bateman commits to his character’s wiry unruliness and makes Vince into a self-destructive twit, which is probably by intent.
—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Sep. 2025
Jacqueline Munis,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
Their sprawl and unruliness, their capacity to be anything.
—
Literary Hub,
23 Apr. 2026
In Olga Tokarczuk’s work, knowing how to pick mushrooms—organisms open to unruliness and interconnection and resistant to easy labeling—is a sign of good character.
—
Christopher Tayler,
The New York Review of Books,
2 Oct. 2025
Any unruliness was saved for the sketches.
—
Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
Bateman commits to his character’s wiry unruliness and makes Vince into a self-destructive twit, which is probably by intent.
—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unruliness
Noun
-
Amid a rebellion over the SAVE Act, Johnson lost control of the House floor for a second time this week, sending lawmakers home early for the July Fourth recess.
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These battles have completely receded from the American imagination, even though, in some ways, the American rebellion was a sideshow to a far greater imperial drama.
Noun
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His clippings included reporting on Black students facing higher rates of suspension for willful defiance and a cover story on Oak Park residents who offered a history of the neighborhood.
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One defendant convicted by a jury continues to engage in noisy defiance.
Noun
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Marji’s rebelliousness, both admirable and terrifying for those who love her, is her salient characteristic.
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The pseudo-goth hair and costume choices speak to an inner rebelliousness that isn’t so much unleashed as forced loose by a system that values the appearance of a mythical impartiality over her humanity, leaving her with little recourse but to step outside the confines of the law.
Noun
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Those leaders who ignore or flout the law aren’t merely unethical but fatally arrogant, putting their childish willfulness over the wisdom of generations.
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Though the Durutti Column had been a disaster, Wilson was fascinated by the guitarist, who admired punk’s willfulness even though his own musical taste tended toward jazz, blues, and the classical tradition.
Noun
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And there’s no disrespect intended to fellow Hawks draftee Zuby Ejiofor (a 6-foot-7, 245-pound senior who was Big East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year?
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Now the removal or disrespect for women.
Cite this Entry
“Unruliness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unruliness. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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