Synonyms of wayward

wayward 1 of 2

adjective

1

as in rebellious

given to resisting authority or another's control

had always been the most wayward of their three children

Synonyms & Similar Words

• rebellious
• rebel
• defiant
• stubborn
• willful
• unruly
• wilful
• recalcitrant
• contrary
• mischievous
• disobedient
• dogged
• naughty
• obstreperous
• balky
• contumacious
• rigid
• insubordinate
• restive
• adamant
• ungovernable
• intractable
• refractory
• dissident
• wild
• untoward
• froward
• unrelenting
• bad
• recusant
• incompliant
• insurgent
• uncontrollable
• uncooperative
• resistant
• rude
• mutinous
• errant
• obstinate
• peevish
• headstrong
• noncooperative
• opinionated
• uncompromising
• monkeying
• obdurate
• implacable
• unmanageable
• mulish
• fractious
• negativistic
• unbending
• unyielding
• pertinacious
• wrongheaded
• undisciplined
• immovable
• hardheaded
• disorderly
• inflexible
• perverse
• adamantine
• impudent
• pigheaded
• disrespectful
• ornery
• self-willed
• insolent
• ungracious
• nonconformist
• uncouth
• inconsiderate
• misbehaving
• discourteous
• impertinent
• unmannerly
• uncivil
• impolite
• ill-mannered
• monkeyish
• ill-natured
• ill-bred

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• obedient
• docile
• amiable
• compliant
• submissive
• cooperative
• amenable
• tractable
• agreeable
• deferential
• acquiescent
• conformable
• yielding
• behaved
• biddable
• well-bred
• obliging
• disciplined
• respectful
• courteous
• proper
• polite
• ruly
• servile
• obsequious
• slavish
• subservient
• orderly
• decorous
• manageable
• controllable
• mannerly
• trainable
• kowtowing
• governable

2

as in stubborn

given to resisting control or discipline by others

an institution to which wayward teens were often sent

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stubborn
• wilful
• rebellious
• unruly
• recalcitrant
• uncontrollable
• willful
• unmanageable
• headstrong
• out of hand
• naughty
• ungovernable
• intractable
• difficult
• refractory
• untoward
• incontrollable
• incorrigible
• froward
• obstinate
• wild
• undisciplined
• intransigent
• obdurate
• uncontrolled
• stiff
• rambunctious
• irrepressible
• boisterous
• rowdy
• perverse
• contrary
• opinionated
• hardheaded
• disobedient
• mulish
• unpunished
• bullheaded
• pigheaded
• self-willed
• insubordinate
• stiff-necked
• indocile
• misbehaving

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• manageable
• controllable
• obedient
• tractable
• docile
• compliant
• submissive
• well-behaved
• yielding
• governable
• willing
• pliable
• receptive
• accepting
• responsive
• reasonable
• placable
• temperate
• trainable
• persuadable

waywardness

2 of 2

noun

as in rebellion

refusal to obey

the unremitting waywardness of the child frustrated her parents at times

Synonyms & Similar Words

• rebellion
• defiance
• willfulness
• rebelliousness
• disobedience
• disrespect
• contrariness
• unruliness
• recalcitrance
• contumacy
• insubordination
• intractability
• rudeness
• refractoriness
• frowardness
• obstreperousness
• stubbornness
• balkiness
• perversity
• civil disobedience
• inconsiderateness
• noncooperation
• obstinacy
• obduracy
• peevishness
• insolence
• impudence
• inconsideration
• tenacity
• self-will
• pigheadedness
• doggedness
• ungraciousness
• pertinacity
• impoliteness
• mischievousness
• naughtiness
• tenaciousness
• impertinence
• hardheadedness
• knavery
• discourteousness
• obdurateness
• obstinateness
• mulishness
• pertinaciousness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• subordination
• obedience
• compliance
• submission
• tractability
• amiability
• agreeability
• subservience
• submissiveness
• amenability
• slavishness
• subserviency
• tractableness
• subordinateness
• deference
• docility
• dutifulness
• trainability