disorderly

Etymology

It is formed from English disorder + -ly, after orderly,^[2][3][4] while Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com analyse it as dis- and orderly.^[5][6] Its base, the noun disorder, combines the same prefix with order, probably after French desordre,^[2] while Etymonline derives the noun from the verb.^[3] The verb is apparently a modification of earlier disordeine,^[2][7] from Old French desordener,^[2][3][7] from Medieval Latin disordinō (“to throw into disorder”),^[3][8] from dis- and ōrdinō (“to order, regulate”),^[3][8] from ōrdō.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not complying with law and order, unruly: 1555 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[5] which dates the adverb to 1560.^[5] The OED's first quotations are later: 1564 for the adverb, "in a lawless or unruly way", and 1585 for the adjective, in Archbishop Sandys's Sermons.^[2] Etymonline likewise dates the adjective to the 1580s,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford dates the adverb to the mid-16th century and the adjective to the late 16th.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The moral and legal sense came first, and survives in disorderly house and disorderly conduct.^[3] The noun disorder had meant both a lack of regular arrangement and a disturbance of the peace since the 1520s and 1530s,^[3] and the adverb had the sense "without regular arrangement" before 1577, in Gascoigne;^[2] the adjective reached "untidy, irregular" in 1632.^[2][3] For Johnson (1755) the order was reversed: he lists "confused; immethodical" first, then "irregular; tumultuous" and last "lawless; contrary to law".^[9] A specific legal use, violating public order or morality, appears in an Act of George II in 1744, and a disorderly house could be a brothel.^[2][4] A medical use, "affected with disorder of the bodily functions", is recorded only in 1655.^[2] As a noun it means a disorderly person, from 1792.^[2] Merriam-Webster now marks the adverb as archaic.^[5]

Timeline

• 1555 – adjective, unruly, not complying with law and order.^[5] The OED's first quotation is from 1585.^[2]
• 1560 – adverb, in a lawless or unruly way.^[5] The OED's first quotation is from 1564.^[2]
• before 1577 – adverb, without regular arrangement, in Gascoigne.^[2]
• 1632 – adjective, confused, untidy.^[2][3]
• 1655 – diseased, of the bodily functions (obsolete).^[2]
• 1744 – in law, violating public order or morality.^[2]
• 1792 – noun, a disorderly person.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not in order; untidy or irregular: a disorderly heap of old newspapers.^[10][5][2]
2. Unruly, uncontrolled or riotous: a disorderly crowd outside the stadium.^[10][5][4]
3. (law) Offending against public order or decency, as in disorderly conduct and disorderly house.^[10][5][4]

Adverb

1. (archaic) In a confused, irregular or unruly way.^[5][10][2]

Noun

1. A disorderly person.^[2][4]

Word family

• disorderliness
• disorderly conduct
• disorderly house

Related words

• disorder
• orderly
• order

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins