as in irritable
having or showing a habitually bad temper
an ill-natured and unpleasant old horse that sometimes bites
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ill-natured
Adjective
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And even in what was a stilted match played in an increasingly irritable atmosphere, Rogers and Tielemans delivered with an assist each.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
14 Apr. 2025 -
This stretch can worsen pain in people with back pain, very tight hamstrings, or irritable nerves.—
Aubrey Bailey, PT, DPT, CHT,
Verywell Health,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Abby’s Motivations – Last night, players saw that the show was saying right away that Abby was a Firefly and was angry at Joel for all his murders at the hospital, decimating the entire organization.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
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His angry toss of the rosin bag to a spot several feet from the pitcher’s mound during Sunday’s game was an indication of his disappointment.—
David O'Brien,
New York Times,
14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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If Alex has a bit more credibility, not being as intractable in her positions, both have a tendency to come off as disagreeable in their incessant bickering and self-righteousness.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2025
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If Alex has a bit more credibility, not being as intractable in her positions, both have a tendency to come off as disagreeable in their incessant bickering and self-righteousness.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The trust's extensive provisions are just an example of Barnes' quirky and often cantankerous nature.—
Blake Gopnik,
Newsweek,
19 Mar. 2025
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The trust's extensive provisions are just an example of Barnes' quirky and often cantankerous nature.—
Blake Gopnik,
Newsweek,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In the Nineties, the report became a staple in the bilious feedstock of right-wing militias, part of a slurry of propaganda that turned legitimate grievances into the conviction that FEMA agents in unmarked black helicopters were soon to enact a new world order.—
Dan Piepenbring,
Harper's Magazine,
19 Feb. 2025
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The death chamber is nine feet by twelve feet, painted a bilious turquoise.—
Lawrence Wright,
The New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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And while there is enough splenetic wit and manic detail to generate obsessive fandom (entire sections of Web sites are dedicated to deciphering just what Kenny is mumbling), subjects like alien abduction, genetic engineering, and Kathie Lee are hardly original targets for satire.—
Chris Norris,
SPIN,
13 Aug. 2022
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Meanwhile, the commentator and controversialist Piers Morgan, an obsessively close observer and relentless critic of Meghan, inevitably waded in with his usual splenetic views.—
Sarah Lyall,
New York Times,
17 Sep. 2022
Adjective
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Image Our collective longing to connect with animals is evident in the viral popularity of animal celebrities on social media — who can resist Pesto the chubby baby king penguin, Hua Hua the panda or Moo Deng, the ornery baby pygmy hippo?—
Alexandra Alter,
New York Times,
23 Mar. 2025
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Fitzgerald, 75, his daughter Heather Valdez, 53, and their team of family members, co-workers and an ornery parrot named Cisco have kept this wacky thrift-consignment-retail store afloat.—
Amanda Rosa,
Miami Herald,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Alice in Wonderland is the exception with a $1 billion global take, made with the acid stylings of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp when the latter was hot as hell in a pre-streaming 2010.—
Anthony D'Alessandro,
Deadline,
31 Mar. 2025
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The company is a leading supplier of liquid and dry, acid and bicarbonate concentrates for dialysis patients in the United States.—
Quartz Intelligence Newsroom,
Quartz,
20 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Ill-natured.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ill-natured. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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