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# unruly

«unruly» in Mova's school dictionary: **behaving badly and hard to control** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (unruly, unrulier, unruliest)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Unruly means behaving badly and hard to control. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#m1)

2) Unruly hair is untidy and hard to keep neat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and school reports: «an unruly class», «an unruly crowd». In news, unruly behaviour on planes or at football matches. In everyday life: «unruly hair» that sticks up.

### examples

- The unruly crowd pushed against the gates. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#x1)
- The supply teacher found the class unruly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#x2)
- My unruly hair never stays flat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#x3)
- The unruly puppy chewed everything. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#x4)
- An unruly passenger was taken off the plane. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#x5)
- The garden became unruly while we were away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#x6)
- They are an unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/#x7)

### note

Said «un-ROO-lee». Noun: unruliness. It comes from «rule», not from «ruly» as a separate word. Similar: wild, disobedient; opposite: well-behaved, orderly.

### In the corpora

- ["High-spirited" means noisy and unruly (not keeping to the rules).](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/14-family-and-behaviour/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «unruly» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/unruly/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.