1
as in peasant
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
as far as he was concerned, anyone from outside the city was a backwater churl
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in miser
a mean grasping person who is usually stingy with money
don't bother asking for donations at that house—the churl who lives there believes that charity begins and ends at home
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in bastard
a person whose behavior is offensive to others
a churl who gets thrown out of parties with remarkable regularity
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of churl
The churl’s view.
—
Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 July 2021
But the cartoonish executive in Episode 1 will require a Grinch-like turnaround to become anything but a clownish churl.
—Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 Mar. 2022
Only a churl would lament the existence of these testaments to the out-of-nowhere potential of a great pop hit.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2021
Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 July 2021
But the cartoonish executive in Episode 1 will require a Grinch-like turnaround to become anything but a clownish churl.
—Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 Mar. 2022
Only a churl would lament the existence of these testaments to the out-of-nowhere potential of a great pop hit.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for churl
Noun
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The Gospel authors, far from being community leaders preserving oral sayings for largely illiterate followers, were highly literate members of a small, erudite upper crust, distant in experience, attitude, and geography from any Galilean peasant preachers.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2025
-
Set in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal, where Mateus was raised, a peasant community of grape-pickers become agents in an open-air ritual of remembrance and rebellion.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
26 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Julia Soares, an assistant professor of cognitive science at Mississippi State University, said this tendency aligns with the decades-old social science concept of the cognitive miser.—
Celia Ford,
Vox,
10 Mar. 2025
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This ahead-of-its-time 1988 film stars Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a TV executive and self-seeking miser who receives a wake-up call from the ghosts of Christmas Past (David Johansen), Present (Carol Kane) and Future (Robert Hammond) to help straighten his mean spirit.—
Skyler Caruso,
People.com,
19 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Sorrentino may also be exorcising some conflicting feelings about his birthplace, which is portrayed as a vulgar, crude place populated by crooks and hicks and photographed like its paradise.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
7 Feb. 2025
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In first grade, when a teacher called him a hick, Ciotti threw an inkwell at her.—
D. T. Max,
The New Yorker,
23 Sep. 2024
Noun
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But this Ron Howard was an alternate universe version of Ron Howard, who instead of being notoriously nice, is sort of a jerk.—
Esther Zuckerman,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Apr. 2025
-
Someone actually just said to me that all the men in the book are jerks.—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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In real time, the audience, the queens watching, and perhaps Suzie herself all learn that Suzie has a knack for sexiness onstage, even though she’s dressed as a clown.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
12 Apr. 2025
-
Among the mass-shooting victims is a bloodied clown who was performing at the festival.—
James Poniewozik,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
Noun
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According to LifeLine, the DeKalb shelter takes in 135 dogs a week on average.—
Jim Gaines,
ajc,
13 Sep. 2023
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Police brought in hundreds of law enforcement personnel with dogs, armored carriers, horses and helicopters that circled overhead.—
Maryclaire Dale, Marc Levy and Michael Rubinkam,
Anchorage Daily News,
13 Sep. 2023
Noun
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Going to the Ron Burgundy–Ricky Bobby idiot well one time too many, Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a lazy, cynical longtime congressman running against a local bumpkin (Galifianakis).—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
4 Feb. 2025
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Carter, perhaps the most decent man to ever occupy the Oval Office, was long written off as a country bumpkin, one who perhaps unsurprisingly left office as a one-term anomaly.—
Philip Elliott,
TIME,
9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Students are required to bring two full decks of cards including the jokers.—
Kris Slugg,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Jan. 2025
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This lucky gambler had an 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king and a joker.—
Helena Wegner,
Sacramento Bee,
20 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Churl.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/churl. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
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