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disorderly definition

dis·or·derly (dis ôr′dər lē)

adjective

  1. not orderly; untidy; unsystematic
  2. causing a disturbance; unruly; riotous
  3. Law violating public peace, safety, or order

adverb

Archaic in a disorderly manner

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

disorderly Synonyms

disorderly

modif.

  1. Lacking orderly arrangement

    indiscriminate, confused, tumultuous, jumbled, undisciplined, unrestrained, heterogeneous, scattered, dislocated, unsystematic, messy, slovenly, untidy, cluttered, unkempt, sloppy, scrambled, badly managed, in confusion, chaotic, disorganized, out of order, in disarray, untrained, out of control, topsy-turvy*, helter-skelter*, higgledy-piggledy*, out of whack*, out of line*, out of step*, all over the place, mixed up*, cockeyed*, messed up*; see also irregular 1, 4.

    Antonyms neat*, organized*, trim. *

  2. Creating a disturbance

    rowdy, disruptive, obstreperous, drunk; see turbulent, unruly.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

disorderly Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • so: Why, in short, was everything so slow, so expensive, so disorderly, so often grossly unjust?

Modifies a noun

  • conduct: A man was arrested in the Gunn's Close area of Kirkwall at 6pm on Thursday for alleged disorderly conduct.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: There are just so many more ways in which an orderly system can become disorderly than vise versa.

Preposition: in

  • public: The heavily intoxicated woman was later arrested and charged with being drunk and disorderly in public.
disorderly usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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MLA Style

"disorderly." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/disorderly>

APA Style

disorderly. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/disorderly

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