unruliness
Refusal to behave
Unruliness is the quality of being difficult to control or discipline.
It characterizes people, animals, or things that resist management or refuse to follow rules and expectations.
A classroom full of unruliness tests a teacher's patience; the unruliness of her hair defied every styling product.
The word suggests disorder that actively resists being tamed, whether in children, crowds, or even abstract things like emotions.
Defying workplace authority
- disobedienceRefusal to follow orders
- rebelliousnessTendency toward defiant resistance
- noncomplianceFailure to follow requirements
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
intractability · obstinacy · contumacy · willfulness · stubbornness · contrariness · resistance · dissent
State of utter confusion
- bedlamState of wild disorder
- mayhemViolent disorder and destruction
- turmoilViolent disturbance or confusion
- tumultNoisy, chaotic disturbance
commotion · uproar · havoc · disruption · disorder · anarchy · lawlessness · rowdiness
Not domesticated
- feralWild after domestication
- uncontrollableImpossible to restrain
- unbridledWithout any restraint
- uncheckedNot controlled or limited
unrestrained · ungovernable · out-of-control · rampant · unbroken · spirited · tempestuous · impetuous
Disordered, messy appearance
- unkemptnessLack of grooming
- messinessState of disarray
- tousledDisordered, especially hair
- tangledTwisted confusedly together
windswept · scraggly · bedraggled · disarray · slovenliness · shagginess · frazzled · mussed
insubordination
Defying workplace authority
- disobedienceRefusal to follow orders
- rebelliousnessTendency toward defiant resistance
- noncomplianceFailure to follow requirements
recalcitrance · intractability · obstinacy · contumacy · willfulness · stubbornness · contrariness · resistance · dissent · nonconformity
pandemonium
State of utter confusion
- bedlamState of wild disorder
- mayhemViolent disorder and destruction
- turmoilViolent disturbance or confusion
tumult · commotion · uproar · havoc · disruption · disorder · anarchy · lawlessness · rowdiness · boisterousness
untamed
Not domesticated
- feralWild after domestication
- uncontrollableImpossible to restrain
- unbridledWithout any restraint
unchecked · unrestrained · ungovernable · out-of-control · rampant · unbroken · spirited · tempestuous · impetuous · headstrong
dishevelment
Disordered, messy appearance
- unkemptnessLack of grooming
- messinessState of disarray
- tousledDisordered, especially hair
tangled · windswept · scraggly · bedraggled · disarray · slovenliness · shagginess · frazzled · mussed · uncombed
- chaosmayhem, chaotic, pandemonium, bedlam, turmoil
- defiancedefiance, disobedience, insubordination, noncompliance, rebellion
- misbehaviormisbehave, misbehavior, mischief, misconduct, naughty
- rowdinessrowdiness, boisterousness, raucousness, roughhousing, horseplay
- unrulinessmisbehavior, misconduct, disobedience, defiance, insubordination
- rebellious traitsdefiance, rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience, willfulness
unrulinessobedience
Compliance with authority
compliance · docility · submissiveness · tractability · subordination
unrulinessorderliness
Methodical arrangement of things
discipline · order · manageability · control · regimentation
unrulinessmanageability
Ease of being controlled
tractability · trainability · governability · controllability · tameness
rule, ruler, regular, ruling, unruly, regulate, irregular, regulation, regularity