How to Use ornery in a Sentence

ornery

adjective

• I'm getting more and more ornery in my old age.
• 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
• 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
• These things are ornery, and will even fight a human given the chance.
  — Matt Simon, WIRED, 14 June 2018
• Now police are planning to lay a love nest trap for the ornery bull.
  — Jesse Leavenworth, courant.com, 4 Sep. 2020
• And in the current case of the ornery offense, the issues are much bigger than him.
  — Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2019
• No ornery waves wiggling out of ponytails, or licking the base of the neck.
  — Stella Bugbee, The Cut, 21 July 2017
• And looks down on Rhode Island for being ornery and small.
  — Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 8 June 2022
• But now, as a 24-year-old, Lorde is not out to prove herself ornery and special.
  — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2021
• 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
• The bottle looks old and ornery, but what’s inside is younger and sweeter.
  — Will Nevin, AL.com, 6 Oct. 2017
• 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
• 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
• But that seemed to fire up the Ducks, who became ornery and started stirring things up with the Predators.
  — Eric Stephens, Orange County Register, 7 Mar. 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
• In 2002, War Emblem nearly fell to his knees when the starting gate sprang open, and Baffert knew the ornery colt was done.
  — Beth Harris, Houston Chronicle, 9 June 2018
• Craft brewing in the city has come a long way over the past decade or so as the vogue for ornery, tongue-curlingly bitter I.P.A.s faded.
  — Pete Wells, New York Times, 9 May 2023
• That dynamic led to years of conflict between the two ornery men.
  — Brendan I. Koerner, Wired, 27 May 2021
• Managing monster egos and ornery clients was one of his strengths.
  — Kate Kelly, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2017
• Ares could be very ornery at times but was a very affectionate pet.
  — cleveland, 24 May 2022
• The Aggies, a bit ornery because of their semi-slow start, stirred and wound up putting the Demons at arm’s length in the first half and kept the game that way throughout.
  — Brent Zwerneman, Houston Chronicle, 6 Nov. 2019
• 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
• 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 bifurcated plot revolves around a pair of ornery old men.
  — David Segal, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2020
• Traffic jams of ornery yaks and deliriously tired hikers force us to adopt a stop-start pace.
  — Jen Murphy, Robb Report, 17 Sep. 2023
• 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
• Now in its third and final week, the riders are sunburnt, tired, ornery, and sick of stuffing their faces with enough food just to make it through the next day.
  — Bill Bradley, Bon Appetit, 20 July 2017
• But perhaps the famously ornery Rodgers has finally reached the end of his patience with the team.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 13 Sep. 2021
• No snaggles, no fuss, no ornery waves wiggling out of ponytails.
  — John Januzzi, The Cut, 6 Mar. 2018

Last Updated: 28 May 2024