ornery

adj

1. (Appalachia, especially, informal)Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.

   “Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme. "The low-down, ornery cuss!" said Dobbs. "The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!"”

   “Through Michael sped the thought: 'Could I make her jealous?' And he was shocked at it. A low-down thought—mean and ornery!”

   “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.”

   “[“S]he was a girl and girls are less ornery than boys. Though I guess Mim was ornery in her way. Once she got to be sixteen, she put my parents through hell.” / “Grandpa, what’s ‘ornery’?” / “Oh, you know. Mean. Contrary. Rebellious.” / “Like Daddy?” / “I don’t think of your daddy as ornery, just, what‘s the word?—very uptight about things. People get to him more than they do to most people.””

   “After a lifetime of being sweet as pie, once Grandpa died, she got kinda ornery.”

2. (US, general, humorous, informal)Troublesome to deal with in a good way; mischievous, prankish, teasing.
3. (obsolete)Ordinary, commonplace; hence, inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant.