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Ornery developed as a variant of which word?

ornery

[awr-nuh-ree] / ΛˆΙ”r nΙ™ ri /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Sadly, the circumstances of our birth also sentenced us to put up with picayune, ornery, solipsistic types like him.

From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026

Josh Charles stars as a talented but ornery surgeon who leaves his career in Boston to become a doctor in a small town.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025

“It was in the last five years that they’ve really become a nuisance,” homeowner Sara Alden told CBS2 about one ornery ursine that had recently broken into her family’s home and tore up the place.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2024

It falls to Asha, her quirky friends, an ornery talking goat sidekick and a cute fallen star to rebel against Magnifico to get the wishes back.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2023

“Talk about wild things! Your grand-mother was the wildest, most untamed, most ornery and beautiful creature ever to grace this earth.”

From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech

Brustein’s universalism grew ornerier and more claustrophobic with age.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2023

He was mebby thinking how much ornerier that would make the hull scheme.

From Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis

Pitching in the brilliant sunshine July sunshine with temperatures in the low 80s, the orneriest of the Mariners starters delivered an outstanding performance in a season filled with them.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2023

In a family with six children, Bob wasn’t the oldest Stoops child - that title belongs to brother Ron Jr. - but Kathy says Bob was the edgiest, the feistiest, the orneriest.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 4, 2017

“Colleen was the orneriest one in the pool, but boy, could she swim!”

From Washington Times ● Jan. 7, 2017

And ... if he wishes to further extend his inventive genius to elephant snares, our special elephant trap welders make welds unconditionally guaranteed to discourage the attempt of the orneriest pachyderm to "walk away mil."

From Time Magazine Archive

I wasn’t ’bout to sneak no looks at Miss Daponte; ’twas well knowed that ’long with being the strongest woman in Possum Moan, she was also the orneriest one.

From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis




Vocabulary lists containing ornery


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