DISORDERLY

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does disorderly mean? 

• DISORDERLY (adjective)
  The adjective DISORDERLY has 3 senses:

1. undisciplined and unruly

2. in utter disorder

3. completely unordered and unpredictable and confusing

  Familiarity information: DISORDERLY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISORDERLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Undisciplined and unruly

Context example:

disorderly conduct

Similar:

boisterous; rambunctious; robustious; rumbustious; unruly (noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline)

mobbish; moblike (characteristic of a mob; disorderly or lawless)

raucous; rowdy (disturbing the public peace; loud and rough)

bare-knuckle; bare-knuckled; rough-and-tumble (characterized by disorderly action and disregard for rules)

Antonym:

orderly (devoid of violence or disruption)

Derivation:

disorderliness (rowdy behavior)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In utter disorder

Synonyms:

disorderly; higgledy-piggledy; hugger-mugger; jumbled; topsy-turvy

Context example:

a disorderly pile of clothes

Similar:

untidy (not neat and tidy)

Derivation:

disorderliness (untidiness (especially of clothing and appearance))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Completely unordered and unpredictable and confusing

Synonyms:

chaotic; disorderly

Similar:

wild (marked by extreme lack of restraint or control)

Derivation:

disorderliness (a condition in which things are not in their expected places)

 Context examples 

I began to think there was something disorderly in his being there at all, even if he had not been in the habit of putting his foot in the salt or the melted butter.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So she dressed herself in her best, and trying to persuade herself that she was neither excited nor nervous, bravely climbed two pairs of dark and dirty stairs to find herself in a disorderly room, a cloud of cigar smoke, and the presence of three gentlemen, sitting with their heels rather higher than their hats, which articles of dress none of them took the trouble to remove on her appearance.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had merely skimmed over the surface of things, observing detached phenomena, accumulating fragments of facts, making superficial little generalizations—and all and everything quite unrelated in a capricious and disorderly world of whim and chance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was a great jest of his, I recollect, to pretend that he couldn't keep his teeth from chattering, whenever mention was made of an Alguazill in connexion with the adventures of Gil Blas; and I remember that when Gil Blas met the captain of the robbers in Madrid, this unlucky joker counterfeited such an ague of terror, that he was overheard by Mr. Creakle, who was prowling about the passage, and handsomely flogged for disorderly conduct in the bedroom.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)