John Gregory DunneBro UttalPaul FrancisConnie Leonard GeronRebecca Haines
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What's the History of ornery?
Readers who are familiar with one of the more common senses of ornery ("irritable") might well be surprised to learn that the word is an alteration of the word ordinary, as this root word has little to do with feelings of peevishness. Yet this is the case, and there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for how this meaning came about.
Ornery was first used in American regional speech in the beginning of the 19th century as a simple variant of ordinary, and for some while it had the same meaning. Soon enough, however, it began to take on some of the more negative aspects of ordinary. It was used to describe things that were common, and especially common things of inferior quality. Next, it developed a sense synonymous with lazy. Those lazy folks dubbed "ornery" were also apparently easily annoyed and touchy. By the end of the 19th century ornery had taken on its now-common meaning of "cantankerous."
Examples of ornery in a Sentence
Lev Grossman, Time, 21 July 2003
Critics have compared his work to Faulkner's. And like Faulkner, McCarthy is an acquired taste as well as a palate cleanser. He's a stubborn, ornery writer, known for his ornate sentences, arcane vocabulary, casual disregard for standard punctuation and untranslated bits of foreign dialogue that offer little in the way of a narrative compass to guide readers along.
—Sara Mosle, New York Times Book Review, 17 May 1998
I'm getting more and more ornery in my old age.
an ornery old man who always yells at the neighborhood kids to keep off his lawn
Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 14 Mar. 2025
The protagonist is an ornery, unemployed academic (Lee Sung-jae) who becomes fixated on a barking dog in his apartment complex, and goes to extreme lengths to silence it.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Mar. 2025
Perhaps Hackman sensed this in his final years acting, as he was known to be more ornery with each passing entry in his canon.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 1 Mar. 2025
This is a ghost story of sorts, written in cycles and loops, loafers and suits, ornery protest and wired-to-the-skies dance weekends.
—Ian Penman, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ornery
Cite this Entry
“Ornery.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ornery. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.
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ornery
adjective
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