ornery
Mean and difficult
Ornery describes someone who is bad-tempered, stubborn, and difficult to deal with.
The word is chiefly American and carries a folksy, rural flavor—you might hear it applied to a cantankerous old farmer or a mule that won't budge.
The ornery customer complained about everything on the menu.
Children acting up might also be called ornery, though in this context it can shade toward mischievous rather than genuinely mean-spirited.
Easily provoked to annoyance
- testyShort-tempered, easily provoked
- grumpyIrritable in temperament
- surlyBad-tempered and unfriendly
- peevishHabitually fretful
cross · snappish · curmudgeonly · crusty · prickly · disagreeable · ill-tempered · bad-tempered
Firmly refusing to yield
- mulishStubbornly refusing to yield
- bullheadedStubbornly refusing to yield
- headstrongStubbornly self-willed
- willfulIntentionally unyielding
pigheaded · contrary · difficult · uncooperative · intractable · recalcitrant · perverse · wayward
Inclined to dispute
- argumentativeInclined to dispute
- contentiousInclined toward disagreement
- belligerentHostile and eager to clash
- pugnaciousInclined to quarrel
scrappy · feisty · truculent · antagonistic · confrontational · bellicose · hostile · aggressive
irritable
Easily provoked to annoyance
peevish · cross · snappish · curmudgeonly · crusty · prickly · disagreeable · ill-tempered · bad-tempered · moody
obstinate
Firmly refusing to yield
- mulishStubbornly refusing to yield
- bullheadedStubbornly refusing to yield
- headstrongStubbornly self-willed
willful · pigheaded · contrary · difficult · uncooperative · intractable · recalcitrant · perverse · wayward · cussed
quarrelsome
Inclined to dispute
- argumentativeInclined to dispute
- contentiousInclined toward disagreement
- belligerentHostile and eager to clash
pugnacious · scrappy · feisty · truculent · antagonistic · confrontational · bellicose · hostile · aggressive · mean
- Old Westcowboy, cowboys, cowgirl, sheriff, sheriffs
- American slangbamboozle, bogus, bunkum, conniption, discombobulate
- misbehaviormisbehave, misbehavior, mischief, misconduct, naughty
- Southwest Slangy'all, howdy, reckon, fixin to, pardner
- cold-heartedcallous, cold, cold-blooded, cold-hearted, cruel
- irritatingannoying, aggravating, bothersome, exasperating, frustrating
ornerygood-natured
Having a friendly temperament
amiable · pleasant · agreeable · good-tempered · good-humored
orneryeasygoing
Relaxed in temperament
accommodating · compliant · cooperative · amenable · tractable
- ornery streakHabitual ill-tempered nature