UNRULY (unrulier, unruliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: unrulier    , unruliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unruly mean? 

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

1. noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline

2. unwilling to submit to authority

3. incapable of being controlled

  Familiarity information: UNRULY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNRULY (adjective)

Comparative: unrulier   
Superlative: unruliest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline

Synonyms:

boisterous; rambunctious; robustious; rumbustious; unruly

Context example:

an unruly class

Similar:

disorderly (undisciplined and unruly)

Derivation:

unruliness (the trait of being prone to disobedience and lack of discipline)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Unwilling to submit to authority

Synonyms:

disobedient; unruly

Context example:

unruly teenagers

Similar:

insubordinate (not submissive to authority)

Derivation:

unruliness (the trait of being prone to disobedience and lack of discipline)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Incapable of being controlled

Synonyms:

indocile; uncontrollable; ungovernable; unruly

Context example:

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

Similar:

difficult; unmanageable (hard to control)

Derivation:

unruliness (the trait of being prone to disobedience and lack of discipline)

 Context examples 

“It is wonderful! But I marvel, sir, that you should have risked a work of such beauty and value by bearing it at night through so unruly a crowd.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The rest of the team, however, had grown unruly during the last days of Spitz, and their surprise was great now that Buck proceeded to lick them into shape.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

As said, Uranus rules high tech and will be unruly, so I don’t expect you would find anyone through a dating app—Uranus rules apps and is too unpredictable this month.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Then tell one of your slaughterers to cut off the head of the horse I rode upon, for it was very unruly, and plagued me sadly on the road; but the truth was, she was very much afraid lest Falada should some day or other speak, and tell all she had done to the princess.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The crowd began to grow unruly, and some of the men were protesting against the spoiling of the sport; but they were silenced when the newcomer lifted his head from his work for a moment and glared at them.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

So saying, he stepped back a little way, till he was out of earshot, and there sat down upon a tree-stump and began to whistle, spinning round now and again upon his seat so as to command a sight, sometimes of me and the doctor and sometimes of his unruly ruffians as they went to and fro in the sand between the fire—which they were busy rekindling—and the house, from which they brought forth pork and bread to make the breakfast.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Silver leant back against the wall, his arms crossed, his pipe in the corner of his mouth, as calm as though he had been in church; yet his eye kept wandering furtively, and he kept the tail of it on his unruly followers.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)