English Explanatory Dictionary

ornery

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.
  2. Troublesome to deal with in a good way; mischievous, prankish, teasing.
  3. Ordinary, commonplace; hence, inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant.

Pronunciation

/ˈɔːnəɹi/ /ˈɔːnɹi/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ornery.wav /ˈɔɹnəɹi/ /ˈɔɹnɹi/ /ˈɔnɹi/

Word forms

ornery ornerier orneriest onery onry o'n'ry ornary

Etymology

A contracted or dialectal pronunciation of ordinary. Sense 3 (“ordinary, commonplace”) was the earliest sense; the meaning of the word then shifted to “inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant”—presumably due to ordinariness—and finally to sense 1 (“disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with”).

Synonyms

contrary crabby cross-grained crotchety honery ill-tempered intractable obnoxious obstreperous peevish stroppy unsociable full of the devil

Derived words

ornerily orneriness
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