Surly
adjective
Rude or unfriendly.
The waiter had a surly attitude.
Often appears as...
- surly attitude
- surly response
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Bad-tempered and always angry.
He is a surly old man.
Often appears as...
- surly old man
- surly demeanor
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Rude or unfriendly.
The waiter had a surly attitude.
Often appears as...
- surly attitude
- surly response
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Bad-tempered and always angry.
He is a surly old man.
Often appears as...
- surly old man
- surly demeanor
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Perceived Intent
Surly often suggests a deliberate intent to be unpleasant.
The surly guard dismissed my question with a wave.
Pro Tip 2/3Social Interaction
When someone is surly, they make others feel unwelcome or uncomfortable.
Her surly comments during the meeting silenced us.
Pro Tip 3/3Mood Indicator
Use 'surly' to imply someone's mood is temporarily unpleasant.
After losing the game, he was unsurprisingly surly.
Pro Tip 1/3Perceived Intent
Surly often suggests a deliberate intent to be unpleasant.
The surly guard dismissed my question with a wave.
Pro Tip 2/3Social Interaction
When someone is surly, they make others feel unwelcome or uncomfortable.
Her surly comments during the meeting silenced us.
Pro Tip 3/3Mood Indicator
Use 'surly' to imply someone's mood is temporarily unpleasant.
After losing the game, he was unsurprisingly surly.
Pro Tip 1/3Perceived Intent
Surly often suggests a deliberate intent to be unpleasant.
The surly guard dismissed my question with a wave.
Pro Tip 2/3Social Interaction
When someone is surly, they make others feel unwelcome or uncomfortable.
Her surly comments during the meeting silenced us.
Pro Tip 3/3Mood Indicator
Use 'surly' to imply someone's mood is temporarily unpleasant.
After losing the game, he was unsurprisingly surly.
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Video examples
Interview: Paul Sereno PIPE...
you know I got to go back I can't I can't sleep at night we drove back to this area I put down my my bag and I walked up we'd all just burst I walked up and I saw this fossil on an edge of rock and I walked up to it and I could see in front of my eyes the skull of the surly dinosaur the first one that had ever
Video examples
Hunting for dinosaurs...
And I've always thought it a shame that these giant, plant-eating dinosaurs are too often portrayed as passive, lumbering platters of meat on the landscape. They're not. Big herbivores can be surly, and they can be territorial --
Video examples
Travel hacks for...
air travel these days is just not what it used to be at least that's what I constantly hear from friends and in the mainstream media harsh stories of crowded planes with surly flight
Video examples
Interview: Paul Sereno PIPE...
you know I got to go back I can't I can't sleep at night we drove back to this area I put down my my bag and I walked up we'd all just burst I walked up and I saw this fossil on an edge of rock and I walked up to it and I could see in front of my eyes the skull of the surly dinosaur the first one that had ever
Video examples
Hunting for dinosaurs...
And I've always thought it a shame that these giant, plant-eating dinosaurs are too often portrayed as passive, lumbering platters of meat on the landscape. They're not. Big herbivores can be surly, and they can be territorial --
Video examples
Travel hacks for...
air travel these days is just not what it used to be at least that's what I constantly hear from friends and in the mainstream media harsh stories of crowded planes with surly flight
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Greg Boyle
American Clergyman
You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear.
Quote examples
Olivia Colman
English Actress
I was never one of those surly teenagers who doesn't smile. My lovely godfather said it was always lovely to see me because I was the only teenager who smiled. And I was so in awe of him, I thought it was one of the best things anyone had ever said to me. So it made me want to live up to what he said.
Quote examples
Melissa Rauch
American Actress
I was kind of like the Rhea Perlman of the bar. I was like Carla on 'Cheers.' People were more afraid of me. There was a point where I got a little surly. There were only so many chicken wings I could serve before losing the smile on my face.
Quote examples
Helen Oyeyemi
British Novelist
I don't think anything can help me socially, to be honest: I have this terrible personality. I don't really know how to describe it... maybe I'll go with surly.
Quote examples
Duncan Jones
English Director
When I was at graduate school, you wouldn't have recognised me. I was so different - and not a nice person: a grumpy, surly, upset, confused, lost person.
Quote examples
John Millington Synge
Irish Poet
Lord, confound this surly sister, blight her brow with blotch and blister, cramp her larynx, lung and liver, in her guts a galling give her.
Quote examples
Natalie Zea
American Actress
I was a theater geek, and I was a surly cheerleader, and that's really kind of a contradiction.
Quote examples
Greg Boyle
American Clergyman
You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear.
Quote examples
Olivia Colman
English Actress
I was never one of those surly teenagers who doesn't smile. My lovely godfather said it was always lovely to see me because I was the only teenager who smiled. And I was so in awe of him, I thought it was one of the best things anyone had ever said to me. So it made me want to live up to what he said.
Quote examples
Melissa Rauch
American Actress
I was kind of like the Rhea Perlman of the bar. I was like Carla on 'Cheers.' People were more afraid of me. There was a point where I got a little surly. There were only so many chicken wings I could serve before losing the smile on my face.
Quote examples
Helen Oyeyemi
British Novelist
I don't think anything can help me socially, to be honest: I have this terrible personality. I don't really know how to describe it... maybe I'll go with surly.
Quote examples
Duncan Jones
English Director
When I was at graduate school, you wouldn't have recognised me. I was so different - and not a nice person: a grumpy, surly, upset, confused, lost person.
Quote examples
John Millington Synge
Irish Poet
Lord, confound this surly sister, blight her brow with blotch and blister, cramp her larynx, lung and liver, in her guts a galling give her.
Quote examples
Natalie Zea
American Actress
I was a theater geek, and I was a surly cheerleader, and that's really kind of a contradiction.
Example 1 of 7
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