ornery
pronunciation
How to pronounce ornery in British English:
UK [ˈɔ:nəri]
How to pronounce ornery in American English:
US [ˈɔrnəri]
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- Adjective:
- having a difficult and contrary disposition
Word Origin
- ornery (adj.)
- 1816, American English dialectal contraction of ordinary (adj.). "Commonplace," hence "of poor quality, coarse, ugly." By c. 1860 the sense had evolved to "mean, cantankerous." Related: Orneriness.
Example
- 1. Squabbling with her ornery brother .
- 2. It is mostly because we 're mean and ornery .
- 3. Quint got ornery when he was bored .
- 4. I got to go to church and sweat and sweat -- I hate them ornery sermons !
- 5. When I tried to get the car salesman to lower his prices , he became ornery .