churlish

adjective

ˈchər-lish How to pronounce churlish (audio)
Definition of churlishnext
as in boorish
having or showing crudely insensitive or impolite manners it would be churlish for any dinner guest to express anything but gratitude for his host's generous hospitality

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective churlish differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of churlish are boorish, clownish, and loutish. While all these words mean "uncouth in manners or appearance," churlish suggests surliness, unresponsiveness, and ungraciousness.

churlish remarks

When can boorish be used instead of churlish?

Although the words boorish and churlish have much in common, boorish implies rudeness of manner due to insensitiveness to others' feelings and unwillingness to be agreeable.

a drunk's boorish behavior

When might clownish be a better fit than churlish?

In some situations, the words clownish and churlish are roughly equivalent. However, clownish suggests ill-bred awkwardness, ignorance or stupidity, ungainliness, and often a propensity for absurd antics.

an adolescent's clownish conduct

In what contexts can loutish take the place of churlish?

The synonyms loutish and churlish are sometimes interchangeable, but loutish implies bodily awkwardness together with stupidity.

a loutish oaf

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of churlish Most of that action is on the Democratic side and the sniping is getting downright churlish as we near the March 17 primary elections. — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 9 Mar. 2026 Kay hasn’t acted since before Marty was born, and Marty never breaks character — they were made for a churlish May-December affair that unlocks something in them both. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 1 Dec. 2025 Still, The Thursday Murder Club is so good-natured, and so gorgeous to look at, that to carp about it just seems churlish. — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 22 Aug. 2025 The pure of heart among you may recoil at the notion that anyone would sow brutish chaos, hurt vulnerable people and throw any semblance of democracy under the bus for a churlish, vicious distraction. — Pat Beall, Sun Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for churlish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for churlish
  1. boorish
  2. uncouth
  3. loutish
  4. stupid
  5. clownish
  6. classless
  7. rude
  8. vulgar
Adjective
  • The most surprising appearance of all, however, is that of longtime media executive Jeff Zucker, tearing into a boorish version of himself.
    — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The poem tells us of 12 slave girls who sleep with Penelope’s boorish suitors.
    — Natasha O'Neill, Vanity Fair, 16 July 2026
Definition of boorish
Adjective
  • People had used rude words on television before, but never in such uncouth tones as Lydon and Jones in a regional ITV interview on 1 December 1976.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 23 Aug. 2026
  • His gruff mechanic Cooter Davenport is introduced as a hell-raising, uncouth wild man, constantly taunting the authorities and flouting convention.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of uncouth
Adjective
  • Meanwhile, the palace has been besieged by loutish suitors, led by the scheming Antinous (Robert Pattinson), all of them vying for the queen’s hand in remarriage and mooching off the absent king’s food and wine.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 17 July 2026
  • And Trump’s domineering, loutish approach to women spoke to its adherents in a way that few, if any, of his rivals could match.
    — Peter Wehner, The Atlantic, 10 June 2026
Definition of loutish
Adjective
  • Video games are one of the world’s most dominant storytelling mediums, yet the writing is often dismissed — not always unfairly — as melodramatic, overly serious and occasionally very stupid.
    — Gene Park, Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Bonnell The enthusiast’s approach Bonnell’s team uses matters because electric motorcycles have an annoying tendency to make power delivery either spectacularly good or spectacularly stupid.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of stupid
Adjective
  • The composure of Amélie, and the decidedly wild and clownish manner in which she’s painted, can’t be tamed into order, elegance, or beauty.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • In each of those projects, Johnson created a role for himself, typically a clownish dreamer.
    — Laurie Ochoa, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of clownish
Adjective
  • But the tournament will also be remembered for a classless and churlish Argentina, which forever stained itself with a thuggish performance in the game and an ungracious one afterward.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2026
  • The harmful framing of women athletes as vulnerable and Black women athletes as overly aggressive and classless has been well-established across studies.
    — Lindsey Darvin, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of classless
Adjective
  • For instance, your colleagues may be very agreeable and kind to their boss but rude to their more junior colleagues, or the cafeteria waiter.
    — Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Totally ignoring the humanity of both worker and customer is rude, and yet both parties are interested in getting on with whatever the transaction is.
    — Judith Martin, Mercury News, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of rude
Adjective
  • Decide for yourself whether that’s a bold indicator of English football’s superiority over the rest of the world, or a revolting symbol of the bloated and vulgar behemoth that the game has become.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
  • However, recent scholarship posits that the structure was used as ordinary (rather than punitive) housing, and that the vulgar decor was in fact a distinguishing characteristic of the epoch.
    — Jim Greer, SPIN, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of vulgar

Browse Nearby Words

churl
churlish
churlishness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Churlish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/churlish. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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