Surly

//ˈsɜːli//

Synonyms for "surly" (97 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (20)

abrupt aggressive argumentative bad-tempered bearish beastly beetle browed beetle-browed bilious black black-browed bluff blunt boorish brash brusque cantankerous cavalier choleric churlish

Strong matches (29)

crabbed crabby cranky cross crotchety crusty curt dark dejected discourteous dour dumpish dyspeptic fractious frowning gloomy glowering glum grim grouchy

Show 7 more words

gruff grum grumpy harsh ill ill natured ill-humored

Adjective(2 words)

crabbit halfhearted

Related words (48)

ill-mannered ill-natured ill-tempered irritable lowering melancholy moodish moody mopey moping mopish morose mumpish nasty obnoxious obstreperous peevish perverse quarrelsome rough

Show 23 more words

rude saturnine scowling severe sharp short short-tempered snappish snippy splenetic sulky sullen temperamental testy touchy truculent ubiquitous ugly uncivil unfeeling ungracious unpleasant waspish

Adjective(4 words)

irascible mean petulant ratty

Adjective(1 words)

ugly

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

3 relation types

derived

2 entries

surlily surliness

related to

9 entries

arrogant bad tempered gloomy irritated lordly menacing supercilious threatening unfriendly

similar

2 entries

ill natured ill-natured

Translations

105 translations across 20 languages.

Bulgarian

4 entries

груб adj (threatening, menacing, gloomy)
заплашителен adj (threatening, menacing, gloomy)
навъсен adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
нацупен adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Catalan

2 entries

malcarat adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
sorrut adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Chinese Mandarin

4 entries

乖戾 adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
傲慢的 adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
無禮 /无礼 adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
粗暴 adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Czech

3 entries

mrzutý adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
nepříjemný adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
nevrlý adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Dutch

4 entries

arrogant adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
bars adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
bars adj (threatening, menacing, gloomy)
bazig adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)

Esperanto

1 entries

malafabla adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Finnish

4 entries

hapan adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
koppava adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
pahantuulinen adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
pöyhkeä adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)

French

4 entries

arrogant adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
autoritaire adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
grincheux adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
grognon adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

German

4 entries

anmaßend adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
arrogant adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
barsch adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
bedrohlich adj (threatening, menacing, gloomy)

Irish

3 entries

bodúil adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
dorrga adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
mosach adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Italian

1 entries

scontroso adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Māori

2 entries

ngākaukawa adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
tukumaru adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Occitan

2 entries

ernhós adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
reganhós adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Plautdietsch

1 entries

brumsch adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Portuguese

1 entries

rabugento adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Romanian

2 entries

morocănos adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
posac adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Russian

4 entries

высокоме́рный adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)
гро́зный adj (threatening, menacing, gloomy)
гру́бый adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
надме́нный adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)

Scottish Gaelic

2 entries

gruamach adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
gruamach adj (threatening, menacing, gloomy)

Spanish

4 entries

acedo adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
amenazante adj (threatening, menacing, gloomy)
arisco adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
arrogante adj ((obsolete) lordly, arrogant, supercilious)

Welsh

2 entries

afrywiog adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)
sarrug adj (irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly)

Sample sentences

9 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

The food was horrible, and the waiter, surly.

Source: tatoeba (1003586)

No longer mourn for me when I am dead / Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell / Give warning to the world that I am fled.

Source: tatoeba (2079545)

Tom is surly, isn't he?

Source: tatoeba (3730469)

The receptionist at the hotel was surly and not at all friendly.

Source: tatoeba (4638768)

Showing 4 of 9 available sentences.

More for "surly"

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