Dictionary Definition
unruly adj
1 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" [syn:
boisterous, rambunctious, robustious, rumbustious]
2 unwilling to submit to authority; "unruly
teenagers" [syn: disobedient]
3 of persons; "the little boy's parents think he
is spirited, but his teacher finds him unruly" [syn: indocile, uncontrollable, ungovernable] [also:
unruliest, unrulier]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -uːli
Etymology
Un + ruly. Form ruly, probably Old Norse origin. Cognate to Danish rolig (calm) and German ruhig (calm).Adjective
unruly- wild; uncontrolled
- The police gathered to contain the unruly mob.
Translations
- Arabic: متوحش , خارج عن السيطرة
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abandoned, anarchial, anarchic, anarchistic, antinomian, beyond control,
boisterous, breachy, chaotic, contrary, contumacious, defiant, disobedient, disorderly, disorganized, fractious, froward, go-go, hard, headstrong, immoderate, impatient of
control, incontinent, incorrigible, indocile, indomitable, indulgent, insubordinate, insuppressible, intemperate, intractable, irrepressible, lawless, lax, licentious, loose, mutinous, naughty, nihilistic, nonrestrictive, obstreperous, ornery, out of control, out of
hand, permissive,
perverse, raffish, rambunctious, rampageous, rampant, raucous, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, reinless, resistant, resisting, restive, revolutionary, riotous, rowdy, rowdyish, ruffianly, rumbustious, shrewish, stormy, stubborn, syndicalistic, tempestuous, termagant, terrorist, tough, tumultuous, turbulent, unbiddable, unbridled, unchecked, uncoerced, uncompelled, unconstrained, uncontrollable, uncontrolled, uncooperative, uncurbed, undisciplined, unforced, ungovernable, ungoverned, uninhibited, unmalleable, unmanageable, unmastered, unmeasured, unmoldable, unmuzzled, unreined, unrepressed, unreserved, unrestrained, unrestrictive, unsubdued, unsubmissive, unsuppressed, untoward, violent, wanton, wayward, wild