Difficult or impossible to discipline, control, or rule.
[Middle English unreuli : un-, not; see un–1 + reuli, easy to govern (from reule, rule; see rule).]
unruliness un·ru'li·ness n.SYNONYMS unruly, intractable, refractory, recalcitrant, headstrong, wayward. These adjectives mean resistant or marked by resistance to control. Unruly implies failure to submit to rule or discipline: unruly behavior in class. Intractable and refractory refer to what is obstinate and difficult to manage or control: “the intractable ferocity of his captive” (Edgar Allan Poe). “The idea of ecclesiastical authority … woke all the refractory nerves of opposition inherited from five generations of Puritans” (Harriet Beecher Stowe). One that is recalcitrant rebels against authority: arrested the recalcitrant protestors. Headstrong describe one obstinately bent on having his or her own way: The headstrong senator ignored his constituency. One who is wayward willfully and often perversely departs from what is desired, advised, expected, or required: “a lively child, who had been spoilt and indulged, and therefore was sometimes wayward” (Charlotte Brontë).
