How to Use ornery in a Sentence

ornery

adjective
  • I'm getting more and more ornery in my old age.
  • All the ugly ducks and the ornery geese are nowhere to be seen.
    — Joseph Goodman, al, 25 June 2022
  • This ornery golf nerd might be the best thing that’s happened to the game.
    — Roy Bragg, San Antonio Express-News, 10 Apr. 2018
  • All that stands in the way is a stable of ornery bulls and the luck of the draw.
    — Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2022
  • Now police are planning to lay a love nest trap for the ornery bull.
    — Jesse Leavenworth, courant.com, 4 Sep. 2020
  • These things are ornery, and will even fight a human given the chance.
    — Matt Simon, WIRED, 14 June 2018
  • Sometimes he’d be sent out to deal with the more ornery guests in an effort to calm them.
    — Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Managing monster egos and ornery clients was one of his strengths.
    — Kate Kelly, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2017
  • No ornery waves wiggling out of ponytails, or licking the base of the neck.
    — Stella Bugbee, The Cut, 21 July 2017
  • No snaggles, no fuss, no ornery waves wiggling out of ponytails.
    — John Januzzi, The Cut, 6 Mar. 2018
  • The bottle looks old and ornery, but what’s inside is younger and sweeter.
    — Will Nevin, AL.com, 6 Oct. 2017
  • That dynamic led to years of conflict between the two ornery men.
    — Brendan I. Koerner, Wired, 27 May 2021
  • And in the current case of the ornery offense, the issues are much bigger than him.
    — Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2019
  • The bifurcated plot revolves around a pair of ornery old men.
    — David Segal, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2020
  • But imagine that same dude wrangling ornery cattle in khakis and a shetland sweater.
    — The Fashion Editors, Esquire, 12 Oct. 2011
  • At 0-2, the Chiefs may be a little more ornery than usual.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 22 Sep. 2025
  • Traffic jams of ornery yaks and deliriously tired hikers force us to adopt a stop-start pace.
    — Jen Murphy, Robb Report, 17 Sep. 2023
  • He’s been labeled — anonymously, of course — as ornery on the course and surly in the clubhouse.
    — Roy Bragg, San Antonio Express-News, 10 Apr. 2018
  • With one-half of the total score dependent on the horse, riders want to climb on a tough, and ornery, steed.
    — Tom McGhee, The Denver Post, 6 Jan. 2017
  • An ornery house cat named Tiger is laid low by an enlarged bladder but keeps trying to live up to his name.
    — Mark Athitakis, USA TODAY, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Then out popped Diehl with Iglaak, the bird like an ornery toddler, tucked between his arms and chest.
    — Crocker Stephenson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 15 Jan. 2018
  • The woman said the ornery man on four occasions had approached her or her guests about their parking in the street.
    — Bob Sandrick, cleveland, 10 June 2021
  • Phillips is a massive, ornery lineman who played well enough as a rookie to put himself in the team’s future plans.
    — Childs Walker, baltimoresun.com, 8 Mar. 2021
  • As deeply flawed as its many characters can be — ornery and petty and blind to their own faults — the story rarely deigns to judge them.
    — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 15 Oct. 2021
  • The goal is to capitalize on the holidays when kids will be out of school and eager to see some ornery avians.
    — Brent Lang, Variety, 18 Sep. 2025
  • This is a ghost story of sorts, written in cycles and loops, loafers and suits, ornery protest and wired-to-the-skies dance weekends.
    — Ian Penman, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
  • The result is a rich, tangy, delicately floral ranch sure to impress even the most ornery of ranch purists.
    — Bon Appétit, 31 Jan. 2022
  • The ornery Henn probably would have relished any debate on the matter.
    — Howard Cohen, miamiherald, 1 May 2017
  • There was the time we were nearly trampled to death by an ornery moose on the Colorado River.
    — Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 18 Mar. 2020
  • Leach also would publicly call out his players and could get ornery when questioned about his team’s shortcomings.
    — Ralph D. Russo, New York Times, 2 June 2026

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