as in rebellion
refusal to obey
frustrated by the boys' unruliness, the lifeguard asked them to leave the pool
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Recent Examples of unruliness
In 2024, Buffett offered prescient reflections on the unruliness of the market, long before the prediction markets began to sway Wall Street.
—
Jacqueline Munis, Fortune, 28 Apr. 2026
Their sprawl and unruliness, their capacity to be anything.
—Literary Hub, 23 Apr. 2026
In Olga Tokarczuk’s work, knowing how to pick mushrooms—organisms open to unruliness and interconnection and resistant to easy labeling—is a sign of good character.
—Christopher Tayler, The New York Review of Books, 2 Oct. 2025
Any unruliness was saved for the sketches.
—Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
Bateman commits to his character’s wiry unruliness and makes Vince into a self-destructive twit, which is probably by intent.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
Jacqueline Munis, Fortune, 28 Apr. 2026
Their sprawl and unruliness, their capacity to be anything.
—Literary Hub, 23 Apr. 2026
In Olga Tokarczuk’s work, knowing how to pick mushrooms—organisms open to unruliness and interconnection and resistant to easy labeling—is a sign of good character.
—Christopher Tayler, The New York Review of Books, 2 Oct. 2025
Any unruliness was saved for the sketches.
—Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
Bateman commits to his character’s wiry unruliness and makes Vince into a self-destructive twit, which is probably by intent.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unruliness
Noun
-
Coupled with the music, the bites have a sense of rebellion, but this isn’t outright middle finger food.—
Colin Wrenn,
Denver Post,
3 June 2026
-
As Season 2 unfolds, the two young couples will be tested and separated once again by forces beyond their control, as every clan chooses a side in the rebellion.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
1 June 2026
Noun
-
From Stonewall’s 1969 uprising to today’s golf tournaments, human rights summits and bar crawls, Pride events in Los Angeles, New York and global cities mix festival energy with defiance.—
Geoff Mulvihill,
Los Angeles Times,
2 June 2026
-
Tensions escalated when Tigray held regional elections in defiance of thata federal delay, leading to a political standoff that erupted into a civil war in November 2020.—
Nimi Princewill,
CNN Money,
31 May 2026
Noun
-
The pseudo-goth hair and costume choices speak to an inner rebelliousness that isn’t so much unleashed as forced loose by a system that values the appearance of a mythical impartiality over her humanity, leaving her with little recourse but to step outside the confines of the law.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
23 Feb. 2026
-
The natural obstinacy and rebelliousness of Israa’s teenage years are hyperaccelerated by culture clashes with both her family and the other kids around her.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Those leaders who ignore or flout the law aren’t merely unethical but fatally arrogant, putting their childish willfulness over the wisdom of generations.—
David Brooks,
The Atlantic,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Though the Durutti Column had been a disaster, Wilson was fascinated by the guitarist, who admired punk’s willfulness even though his own musical taste tended toward jazz, blues, and the classical tradition.—
Brad Shoup,
Pitchfork,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The idea is a partial and symbolic sharing, and the purpose is to break the link between hard work and disrespect.—
Wyatt Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
2 June 2026
-
Historical novelists are often charged with disrespect and unseriousness, of ransacking the archives for sensational scenery to hang behind their conventional family sagas and love stories.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unruliness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unruliness. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
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