Synonyms for unruly
ʌnˈru liun·ru·ly

English Synonyms and Antonyms(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate these synonyms:

1. unruly

   Balky, mulish, obstinate, and stubborn are synonyms of restive only in an infrequent if not obsolete use; the supposed sense of "tending to rest," "standing stubbornly still," is scarcely supported by any examples, and those cited to support that meaning often fail to do so. The disposition to offer active resistance to control by any means whatever is what is commonly indicated by restive in the best English speech and literature. Dryden speaks of "the pampered colt" as "restiff to the rein;" but the rein is not used to propel a horse forward, but to hold him in, and it is against this that he is "restiff." A horse may be made restless by flies or by martial music, but with no refractoriness; the restive animal impatiently resists or struggles to break from control, as by bolting, flinging his rider, or otherwise. With this the metaphorical use of the word agrees, which is always in the sense of such terms as impatient, intractable, rebellious, and the like; a people restive under despotism are not disposed to "rest" under it, but to resist it and fling it off.

   Synonyms:
   balky, fidgety, fractious, fretful, frisky, impatient, intractable, mulish, mutinous, obstinate, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, resentful, restiff, restive, restless, skittish, stubborn, vicious

   Antonyms:
   docile, gentle, manageable, obedient, passive, peaceable, quiet, submissive, tractable, yielding

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. unruly

   Synonyms:
   ungovernable, unmanageable, refractory

Princeton's WordNet(2.50 / 2 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. boisterous, rambunctious, robustious, rumbustious, unrulyadjective

   noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline

   "a boisterous crowd"; "a social gathering that became rambunctious and out of hand"; "a robustious group of teenagers"; "beneath the rumbustious surface of his paintings is sympathy for the vulnerability of ordinary human beings"; "an unruly class"

   Synonyms:
   rambunctious, rumbustious, indocile, robustious, disobedient, rough, uncontrollable, boisterous, ungovernable, knockabout, fierce

   Antonyms:
   manageable, orderly, subordinate

2. disobedient, unrulyadjective

   unwilling to submit to authority

   "unruly teenagers"

   Synonyms:
   rambunctious, rumbustious, indocile, robustious, disobedient, uncontrollable, boisterous, ungovernable

   Antonyms:
   manageable, subordinate, orderly

3. indocile, uncontrollable, ungovernable, unrulyadjective

   of persons

   "the little boy's parents think he is spirited, but his teacher finds him unruly"

   Synonyms:
   rambunctious, rumbustious, irrepressible, indocile, robustious, disobedient, uncorrectable, uncontrollable, boisterous, ungovernable, unmanageable

   Antonyms:
   subordinate, manageable, orderly

Dictionary of English Synonymes(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. unrulyadjective

   Synonyms:
   turbulent, ungovernable, refractory, disobedient, insubordinate, mutinous, riotous, seditious, rebellious

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. unrulyadjective

   Synonyms:
   turbulent, ungovernable, refractory, insubordinate, fractious, insurgent, indocile, disobedient, froward, vicious, intractable, rebellious

PPDB, the paraphrase database(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these paraphrases:

1. List of paraphrases for "unruly":

   undisciplined, turbulent, wrongful, disorderly

How to pronounce unruly?

How to say unruly in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use unruly in a sentence?

1. Lee Ryan:

   Our pilot relied on his training and professionalism, was able to just push the passenger backwards, retook control of the aircraft, passengers helped restrain the unruly passenger, and they landed the plane without incident. Further incident.

2. Yaron Brook:

   But while capitalism may be a convenient scapegoat, it did not cause any of these problems. Indeed, whatever one wishes to call the unruly mixture of freedom and government controls that made up our economic and political system during the last three decades, one cannot call it capitalism.

3. Emma Briant:

   The current regime of unregulated, unruly, unethical influence companies both makes us unsafe and undermines democratic debate.

4. Charles Grant.Richard Curtis:

   When I started it, I thought it would last for one year, so, it's turned out to be a very unruly but long-lasting child.

5. Steve Dickson:

   We will no longer adjudicate certain of these unruly passenger cases with counseling or warnings. We’re going to go straight to enforcement.