surly
Irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendlyIrritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly.
Recorded US: Paul2520, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» The food was horrible, and the waiter, surly.
Munia · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 sensesIrritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly.
mürrisch, unwirsch, missmutig
угрю́мыйugrjúmyj, серди́тыйserdítyj, гру́быйgrúbyj
Threatening, menacing, gloomy.
The surly weather put us all in a bad mood.
grob, düster, rau
угрожа́ющийugrožájuščij, гро́зныйgróznyj
(obsolete)Lordly, arrogant, supercilious.
überheblich, arrogant, hochmütig
надме́нныйnadménnyj, спеси́выйspesívyj, высокоме́рныйvysokomérnyj
- inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace
Examples
6 sentencesThe food was horrible, and the waiter, surly.
In that unwelcoming place I found too many surly people.
The receptionist at the hotel was surly and not at all friendly.
deDer Mann an der Hotelrezeption war mürrisch und nicht im Mindesten freundlich. — brauchinet
Tom is surly, isn't he?
Mary is surly, isn't she?
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 3
By meaning 3
Origin
16th-century alteration of sirly, from sir + -ly.16th-century alteration of sirly, from sir + -ly.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
surlier, surliestSynonyms
1 synonyms- inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace:ugly
Word family
4 related wordsLessons for this word
2 lessons- A2Comparatives — Because it has a comparative form
- A2Superlatives — Because it has a superlative form
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.