unruly
/ʌnˈɹuːli/
unruly adjective: wild; uncontrolled.
Adjective
unruly (comparative unrulier, superlative unruliest)
- Wild; uncontrolled.
- The police gathered to contain the unruly mob.
- Unruly boys who will not grow up / Must be taken in hand / Unruly girls who will not settle down / They must be taken in hand1985, Morrissey & Johnny Marr, “Barbarism Begins at Home”, in Meat Is Murder, performed by The Smiths
unruly meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
unruly in Hindi
- unruly, mischievous, wicked, tyrannical
- रोर ror
unruly in Tamil
- ஒழுங்கற்ற, கட்டுக்கடங்காத, கட்டுப்பாடற்ற
unruly in Urdu
- شورہ پشت
unruly in Bengali
- unruly
- দুরন্ত duronto
More languagesFewer languages
- unruly in Malayalam
- നിയന്ത്രിക്കാനാവാത്ത, അനിയന്ത്രിതമായ, അച്ചടക്കമില്ലാത്ത
- unruly in Kannada
- ಹತೋಟಿಗೆ ಬಾರದ, ಸ್ವಚ್ಛಂದ, ಪುಂಡಾಟಿಕೆಯ, ಗಲಭೆಯ
- unruly in Arabic
- مُتَوَحِّش mutawaḥḥiš, خارج عن السيطرَة
- unruly in Persian
- سرکش sarkeš, نافرمان nâfarmân
Examples of unruly in a sentence
- He grabbed his unruly child by the scruff of the neck, and took him home.
- He used a hired muscle to remove the unruly from the audience.
- The new slått was wonderful, sometimes wild and unruly, other times soft and sensitive.
Forms of unruly
| comparative | unrulier |
|---|---|
| superlative | unruliest |
Origin of unruly
From Middle English unruly (“unquiet, restless”), equivalent to 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 Old Norse *úróligr, related to Danish urolig (“restless”), Swedish orolig (“restless”), Icelandic órólegur (“agitated”). Compare also Middle English unroo, unro (“unrest”). More at roo.
Words formed from unruly
Words that rhyme with unruly
Questions about unruly
- What does unruly mean?
- Unruly means wild; uncontrolled.
- What is unruly in Hindi?
- Unruly in Hindi is रोर (ror). See Unruly meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is unruly?
- Unruly is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce unruly?
- Unruly is pronounced /ʌnˈɹuːli/.
Words near unruly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unruly (page history and authors); रोर (Hindi) (page history and authors); unruly (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unruly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); দুরন্ত (Bengali) (page history and authors); unruly (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unruly (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “unruly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unruly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.