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 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
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
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Readers meet Anne, who walks out of Eden not out of rebellion but love.—
Maria Williams,
USA Today,
24 Oct. 2025
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Netanyahu, meanwhile, faces rebellion from right-wing ministers who want to block a path to Palestinian statehood and annex the West Bank.—
Eric Cortellessa,
Time,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Here, in two very different settings, its mix of exultation, defiance and acknowledgment of the very real possibility of defeat could not be more apt.—
Sheri Linden,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Oct. 2025
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The Barca team also participated — in defiance of their own club hierarchy — by pausing during the first 15 seconds of their match at home to Girona the previous day.—
Dermot Corrigan,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The performance goes from fiery to ineffectual as DiCaprio’s character, Bob, loses his youthful rebelliousness in a haze of pot and resignation.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
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The rebelliousness can be witnessed in everything from its ’70s-in-California style to the very naming conventions Mother chooses for its viral products — adored by A-listers like Gigi Hadid, Chrissy Teigen, Millie Bobby Brown, and more.—
Kristina Rutkowski,
Footwear News,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Either of these original conditions would compel us to curb our aspirations to self-making, self-saving, and self-liberation as harmful forms of willfulness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Oct. 2025
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While this change reduces the explicit admission of willfulness, a narrative is still required.—
Virginia La Torre Jeker,
Forbes.com,
4 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The Israel-Hamas war rattled campuses and spurred disrespect and intolerant behavior on all sides.—
James Druckman,
Mercury News,
17 Oct. 2025
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The problem isn’t that my girlfriend wouldn’t get to go, but the disrespect and dishonesty of uninviting her out of the blue and trying to cover it up as being a genuine mistake.—
Jordan Greene,
PEOPLE,
14 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unruliness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unruliness. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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