Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use unruly in a sentence

16 example sentences · adjective

Unruly means wild; uncontrolled. Example: “The police gathered to contain the unruly mob.”

Examples of unruly by meaning

adjectiveWild; uncontrolled.

  • The police gathered to contain the unruly mob.
  • The bar had two entrances, one on Barrow and another via Bedford, and “86” referred to the address of the door from which intoxicated or unruly guests would be ejected.2025 May 16, Edward Helmore, “What does ‘8647’ really mean? Not what Trump’s supporters are saying”, in The Guardian

More sentences with unruly

  • He grabbed his unruly child by the scruff of the neck, and took him home.From the entry scruff
  • He used a hired muscle to remove the unruly from the audience.From the entry hired muscle
  • The new slått was wonderful, sometimes wild and unruly, other times soft and sensitive.2017 June 7, Ian J Brodie, Rjukan: A UNESCO World Heritage Site, On Location Guides, page 22. From the entry slått
  • Calves can be unruly unless you move them carefully in the company of their mothers.2011, Clancy Tucker, Gunnedah Hero, unnumbered page. From the entry duffer
  • After all, he didn't want his winkle to get so big it became unruly and unnatural.2004, Robert Priest, How to Swallow a Pig. From the entry winkle
  • Tiresome, noisy and unruly they could most certainly be but delightful in their “deediness” and enthusiasm.1975, Cicely B. Hale, A Good Long Time: The Autobiography of an [i.e. A] Nonagenarian, page 98. From the entry deediness
  • Joan plays a nurse who uses judo holds to subdue unruly patients in a mental hospital.1962 September 28, “Shall We Dance? Thud!”, in Life, volume 53, number 13, Chicago, Ill.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 57. From the entry whopping
  • Something misshapen and unruly is rising in its place.2026 June 17, Callie Holtermann, “The Blobby, Drippy Maximalist Design You’re Seeing Everywhere”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry blanding
  • Excess is exhibited in these shows: by unruly woman Max and her "prevenge" rather than revenge logic . . .2015, Wendy A. Burns-Ardolino, TV Female Foursomes and Their Fans, McFarland, page 25. From the entry prevenge
  • Unruly kidren would fling rockstone after him.2006, Alex Wheatle, Island songs. From the entry -ren
  • Unruly clients might take the bit between their teeth and threaten to drag their patron into the fray.1991, Stephen Kirby, Nick Hooper, The Cost of Peace: Assessing Europe's Security Options, →ISBN, page 11. From the entry bit between one's teeth
  • No beefeaters needed pikes to hold the unruly back.1981 August 3, Marie Brenner, “The Wedding of the Century”, in New York Magazine, page 30. From the entry beefeater
  • To continue: the unrated, as distinguished from the unruly, bebusied themselves with furbishing the barren abodes of Durfee, Farnam and Lawrance.1914, H. Roswell Hawley, “Sophomore Year”, in George Washington Patterson, editor, History of the Class of Nineteen-Hundred and Fourteen…. From the entry bebusy
  • While young women loved the Beatles' hair, British adults found it “unsightly, unsafe, unruly, and unclean.” Factories suspended young apprentices who dared to show up in a moptop.2022, W. David Marx, “Introduction”, in Status and Culture, Viking, →ISBN. From the entry moptop

Meaning of unruly

  1. adjective Wild; uncontrolled.

Full definition of unruly

Questions about unruly in a sentence

How do you use unruly in a sentence?
Unruly is used as an adjective. For example: “The police gathered to contain the unruly mob.”
What is a short sentence with unruly?
“Unruly kidren would fling rockstone after him.”
What does unruly mean?
Unruly means wild; uncontrolled.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unruly (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use unruly in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/unruly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.