rambunctious
adjective
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Rambunctious Has (Possible) British Origins
Rambunctious first appeared in print in the early half of the 19th century, at a time when the fast-growing United States was forging its identity and indulging in a fashion for colorful new coinages suggestive of the young nation's optimism and exuberance. Rip-roaring, scalawag, scrumptious, hornswoggle, and skedaddle are other examples of the lively language of that era. Did Americans alter the largely British rumbustious because it sounded, well, British? That could be. Rumbustious, which first appeared in Britain in the late 1700s just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was probably based on robustious, a much older adjective that meant both "robust" and "boisterous."
Synonyms
Examples of rambunctious in a Sentence
Jason Chandler, VIBE.com, 19 Dec. 2024
The rambunctious tune reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the first top 10 hit of Tyler’s career — and came in at No. 12 on our 100 Best Songs of 2024 list.
—Michael Saponara, Billboard, 17 Dec. 2024
Yoon captures the comedy as a little girl focuses all of her attention on picking up pine cones while in the background chaos, her dad struggles to control a rambunctious, muddy dog.
—Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times, 25 Nov. 2024
Zoë is devoted to the family dog, Cece, a rambunctious mutt and a licker.
—Julia Whelan Krish Seenivasan Lance Neal, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near rambunctious
Cite this Entry
“Rambunctious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rambunctious. Accessed 25 Dec. 2024.
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rambunctious
adjective
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