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Ornery vs Onerous - What's the difference?

ornery | onerous |

As adjectives the difference between ornery and onerous

is that ornery is cantankerous, stubborn, disagreeable while onerous is imposing or constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort.

ornery

English

Adjective

(er)
  • (Appalachian) Cantankerous, stubborn, disagreeable.
  • * 1990 . , Rabbit at Rest
  • “Grandpa, what’s ‘ornery’?” / “Oh, you know. Mean. Contrary. Rebellious.”
  • * 1939 . From the Script of (1939)
  • Curley: "I ain't sayin' I don't share your sentiments, Buck, but you're a born fool. First place Luke would kill the Kid in a gun-fight. Second place if Luke did get shot he's got two brothers just as ornery as he is, and if Ike Plummer didn't kill the Kid then Hank Plummer would."
  • (humorous, Southern US) Mischievous, prankish, teasing, disagreeable but in a good way.
  • (obsolete) Commonplace, inferior.
  • Derived terms

    * ornerily * orneriness

    onerous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • imposing]] or [[constitute, constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort.
  • * 1820 , , "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow":
  • That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable.
  • * 1848 , , Shirley , ch. 13:
  • Again, and more intensely than ever, she desired a fixed occupation,—no matter how onerous , how irksome.
  • * 1910 , , "The Golden Poppy" in Revolution and Other Essays :
  • [I]t has become an onerous duty, a wearisome and distasteful task.

    Synonyms

    * (burdensome) demanding, difficult, taxing, wearing

    Derived terms

    * onerously