How to Use cranky in a Sentence

cranky

adjective
  • Elon Musk seems tired and cranky.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
  • People get cranky with the change.
    — Ticked Off, The Orlando Sentinel, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Don’t be cranky, but don’t be timid, either.
    — Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 12 Aug. 2025
  • The girl is cranky, confused and sad that her friends have gone home.
    — Jennifer Brookland, Freep.com, 27 Oct. 2022
  • If Elvis was ever cranky, that’s been stripped out.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2026
  • If Elvis was ever cranky, that’s been stripped out.
    — Amy Nicholson, Twin Cities, 28 Feb. 2026
  • Their kids are just the regular amount of cranky all year long!
    — Rosie Colosi, NBC news, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Home is where the heart is today, but someone could be cranky.
    — Magi Helena, Dallas Morning News, 22 Feb. 2026
  • Young children may get cranky in the afternoon and need a nap.
    — Julie Weed, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2023
  • Not getting enough sleep can leave you miserable and cranky for the next day.
    — Chris Hachey, BGR, 21 June 2021
  • Ports are crowded, consumers are cranky, and the glaciers are still melting.
    — Adam Iscoe, The New Yorker, 18 July 2022
  • But on Sunday, Brady and Rodgers looked old, creaky and cranky.
    — Mark Maske, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Oct. 2022
  • Not that the saucy ball keychain will suffer in sales due to my cranky assessment of it.
    — Rachel Vorona Cote, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
  • Poor sleep leads to more than just crankiness A cranky kid after a bad night’s sleep is bad enough.
    — Avery Newmark, AJC.com, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Novelists, including great ones, can be a cranky bunch.
    — Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Our son was up in the night, seemed to have an upset stomach, and was generally cranky.
    — Travel + Leisure Editors, Travel + Leisure, 4 Apr. 2023
  • Sleepiness is one of the top reasons people get cranky with others, studies show.
    — Julia Ries, SELF, 20 Dec. 2023
  • The cranky yankees who ran Concord weren’t likely to be spooked by outsiders’ threats.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Darius Garland recently missed three games with a cranky back.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 13 Feb. 2022
  • The rub is that the joint was held together by duct tape and drug money, run by cranky employees who are set in their ways.
    — Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 July 2022
  • Occasionally cranky, the terrier was said to perk up with warm baths and good food.
    — Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 5 Oct. 2022
  • There are a few reasons this muscle group might feel particularly stiff and cranky.
    — Jenny McCoy, Glamour, 31 Dec. 2022
  • The often-cranky Jerry Lewis opened up to them multiple times.
    — Chris Yogerst, HollywoodReporter, 27 Apr. 2026
  • You, me, a cranky little guy with white boots, a guy whose company was rife with Medicaid fraud.
    — Pat Beall, Sun Sentinel, 2 Jan. 2026
  • Everyone is growing cranky and tired of face masks and social distancing.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Oct. 2020
  • Despite the negative stereotypes, these guys seemed more like harmless, cranky uncles to me.
    — Curtis Chin, Bon Appétit, 22 June 2022
  • They are linked through Finn, a cranky schoolteacher, who is Max’s younger brother and Lily’s ex-boyfriend.
    — Maggie Doherty, The New Republic, 16 June 2023
  • The whole company now gets the joy of confronting hungry and cranky people in their pajamas!
    — Aj Willingham, CNN, 29 Dec. 2021
  • When someone in a group starts getting cranky or weird, other members of that group will have motivation to speak up.
    — Jaron Lanier, The Atlantic, 26 May 2022
  • Namely, the heat can make many of us exceedingly cranky and, in some cases, downright angry.
    — Hannah Smothers, SELF, 26 July 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cranky.' 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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