Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Difficult or impossible to discipline, control, or rule.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Disposed to resist rule or lawful restraint, or to violate laws laid down; lawless; turbulent; ungovernable; refractory; disorderly; tumultuous: as, an unruly child.
- Not according to rule; irregularly.
Wiktionary
- adj. wild; uncontrolled
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not submissive to rule; disregarding restraint; disposed to violate; turbulent; ungovernable; refractory.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of persons
- adj. noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
- adj. unwilling to submit to authority
Etymologies
- From Middle English unruly ("unquiet, restless"), interpreted as un- + rule + -ly (compare Middle English ruly, reuli ("subject to a religious rule, regular")), but also representing a modified continuation of earlier Middle English unrouly, unroly ("unquiet, restless"), equivalent to un- + roolie. The latter is perhaps from or influenced by an Old Norse word related to Danish urolig ("restless"), Swedish orolig ("restless"), Icelandic óróleg ("agitated"). Compare also Middle English unroo, unro ("unrest"). More at roo. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English unreuli : un-, not; see un-1 + reuli, easy to govern (from reule, rule; see rule). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Principal Hector Espinoza has taken the unusual step of canceling the final seven games of the Cougars season after the team had engaged in what he called unruly behavior during competition.”
“She looked at his hands, the backs of which were covered in unruly black hair.”
“It acts as a kind of palimpsest over which the literary writer might inscribe his/her own variations on "criminal" behavior and its sources in unruly human impulses.”
“It reaches up the poles and strives in unruly tufts down where the trees harbor their gloom.”
“Nip off the leaves that are faded, prune in unruly shoots, see if any need re-potting.”
“As soon as practicable he called the unruly body to order, beat upon the rude desk to enforce attention, and, in the lull that succeeded, briefly defined the purpose of the meeting, ending with introducing the speaker and craving for her their respectful attention.”
“I was a young teacher … from age 20 to 25 and "unruly" - having been involved in the first teachers strikes in NYC to get the right to collective bargaining and then for the first contract, in successive years - 2nd strike in”
“Perhaps they are even reflected in that little unexpected epithet, "unruly" - suggesting the sun himself had challenged the Roman inquisition.”
“As you can see, the bush vines lie in unruly rows since they aren’t trellised.”
Photo post: Hewitson 1853 Mourvedre – and Orlando (and a kookaburra) | Dr Vino's wine blog
“While Levi had debated on what to name his new pet, Sophie and Jake had taken to calling the unruly pup the Lakota word for dog, which stuck.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘unruly’.
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unyielding
refractory, unmanageable, ungovernable, obstinate, contumacious, stubborn, unyielding, unruly, perverse, refractoriness, inanimates, contrary and 12 more...
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Words that look like adverbs but aren't
manly, womanly, ungainly, slovenly, homily, costly, dastardly, family, sparkly, wrinkly, oily, orderly and 69 more...
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I am : oppressive
Words that are oppressive. Describing anger, violence, aggression (overt and covert), opposition, tension. strong stance and lack of harmony.
Still working on exact definition...angry, enraged, furious, mad, obstreperous, violent, aggressive, truculent, obdurate, obstinate, defiant, hostile and 33 more...
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dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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Un-word List
untrammelled, untoward, unenthusiastically, unenthusiastic, undaunted, uncanny, unceasing, unbridled, unacknowledged, unacquainted, unadorned, unaffected and 239 more...
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favorite words
ennui, bonhomie, eschew, liaison, serendipity, lovely, dusk, kitten, epitome, sexy, beloved, darling and 396 more...
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adjectives
sartorial, saucy, wieldy, wuthering, dilapidated, rough-and-ready, flabbergasted, ravishing, seminal, snooty, galore, scrumptious and 386 more...
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WL_3
colleague, commensurate, proportionate, parity, peer, equitable, congruous, harmonious, disparate, polemical, fair, dissimilar and 39 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Scenariot
Rebellious destruction, police and protestors, or just angry mobs.
bedlam, chaos, havoc, destruction, cataclysm, devastation, mayhem, plunder, ravage, wreckage, destroy, blitzkrieg and 112 more...
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quite a handful.
this girl has fire.
firebrand, spitfire, firecracker, rebel, insurrectionist, zealot, maverick, misfit, dreamer, agitator, instigator, inciter and 27 more...
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Ungovernable
Words related to ungovernable.
recalcitrant, obstreperous, defiant, uncontrollable, contumacious, undisciplinable, insubordinate, unruly, ungovernable, unbridled, recusant, contumax and 2 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for unruly.
sonofgroucho Is there such a word as ruly? It seems there is! Aug 5, 2007