Added 7 October 2026
ornery
/ˈɔːnəɹi/ adjective
adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about ornery at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.
- Troublesome to deal with in a good way; mischievous, prankish, teasing.
- Ordinary, commonplace; hence, inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant.
Origin
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”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)