How to Use churlish in a Sentence

churlish

adjective
  • It would be churlish not to congratulate him.
  • Is there any way to ask about it without seeming churlish and rude?
    — Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2023
  • But this churlish little spurt from his players?
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2026
  • Even small-press attention was met at times with churlish defiance.
    — Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2017
  • Mom is a lovely person who seemed not to see her child was often churlish and badly behaved.
    — Washington Post, 26 Oct. 2019
  • Mooney simply wasn't aware of his own churlish, passive aggressive tone.
    — Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2011
  • Wham, the churlish AI wipes us all out, not even waiting for the meteor to do so.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Asked about these comments, and responding to them, Tiger himself was churlish.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 18 July 2024
  • Matilda is treated with nothing but contempt by her churlish parents.
    — Sam Hurwitt, The Mercury News, 9 Mar. 2017
  • Apparently, many voters used that clause to leave the churlish Bonds off their ballots.
    — Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Jan. 2022
  • That’s a standard liberal hope, of course, against the grain of our incurably churlish country.
    — Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022
  • That churlish attitude could not last, given the larger context in which the holiday was born.
    — Annette Gordon-Reed, The New Yorker, 19 June 2020
  • That said, your sin was venial at best, whereas your aunt’s behavior is churlish and wildly out of proportion.
    — Mallory Ortberg, Slate Magazine, 16 May 2017
  • These boys are churlish and brusque, with chapped rosy cheeks Duveneck has masterfully captured.
    — Leyla Shokoohe, The Enquirer, 9 Apr. 2021
  • The winter that never was remains an unsettling thing, but not to revel in its positive effects would be churlish.
    — Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2020
  • And the final Allegro vivace was gripping, Beethoven at his most charming and churlish.
    — Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 13 May 2023
  • Logic may seem like a churlish thing to wish for in a movie that deliberately operates in such a heightened state of unreality.
    — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 25 Feb. 2021
  • Brad Keselowski is sick of the way Kyle Busch’s churlish behavior is often linked as an excuse for his desire to win.
    — Dan Gelston, The Seattle Times, 3 June 2017
  • How are folks supposed to account for the entire audience to be caught up without hearing from the churlish that an innocent post ruined their enjoyment?
    — Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 9 Aug. 2019
  • Some were these churlish rock records, others hootenanny folk records, bluegrass/country standards with Mac Wiseman.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 10 Oct. 2023
  • But there’s a fine line between forceful leadership and churlish self-absorption, and foot stomping is less effective than shredding an opponent with a rapier wit.
    — Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 22 Oct. 2020
  • What happened to that grinch Kyle Shanahan who alienated players with his churlish personality?
    — Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 Jan. 2018
  • Most of that action is on the Democratic side and the sniping is getting downright churlish as we near the March 17 primary elections.
    — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 9 Mar. 2026
  • McCarthy is just a churlish, childish bottom feeder who will lead the GOP to more extremism and thuggish theater.
    — Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 18 Nov. 2022
  • In the aftermath of the election, Jimmy Carter, who had monitored it, at times seemed churlish about Chamorro’s victory.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 14 Aug. 2023
  • The pure of heart among you may recoil at the notion that anyone would sow brutish chaos, hurt vulnerable people and throw any semblance of democracy under the bus for a churlish, vicious distraction.
    — Pat Beall, Sun Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Smith acquiesces to contemporary platitudes that stereotype the black male work ethic as churlish and autocratic, confusing those traits with strength.
    — Armond White, National Review, 11 Feb. 2022
  • Well, with the possible exception of someone who makes a churlish remark about the conspicuous age difference between Ana and Ray.
    — Joe Leydon, Variety, 15 Dec. 2022
  • The contest held true to its churlish form, with the candidates and their supporters slinging accusations, hurling invective and painting a dire portrait should the other side prevail.
    — Mark Z. Barabak Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2020
  • The joke, or one of the jokes, is that Zink does publish material like that—her next novel, Nicotine, was about a utopian (smokers’) commune battling its churlish landlords.
    — Andrew Martin, The New York Review of Books, 13 May 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'churlish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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