Churlish

//ˈtʃɜːlɪʃ// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to a serf, peasant, or rustic.

    "[…] the eloquence and truth of his tribute stands in marked contrast to Kramer's churlish caricature of Kael as a happy pig wallowing in the dirt."

  2. 2
    Rude, surly, ungracious.

    "[A]nd it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]"

  3. 3
    Stingy or grudging.
  4. 4
    Difficult to till, lacking pliancy; unmanageable.

    "1730–1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansion tread, And force a churlish soil for scanty bread."

Adjective
  1. 1
    having a bad disposition; surly wordnet
  2. 2
    rude and boorish wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abruptaggressivebarbarianbearishbeastlybitchy

Example

More examples

"Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back and walked home."

Etymology

From Middle English churlysshe, cherlissh, from late Old English ċeorlisċ, ċierlisċ (“of or pertaining to churls”), equivalent to churl + -ish.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.