boisterous

bois·ter·ous

adjective \ˈbȯi-st(ə-)rəs\

Definition of BOISTEROUS

1

obsolete

a : coarse

b : durable, strong

c : massive

2

a : noisily turbulent : rowdy

b : marked by or expressive of exuberance and high spirits

3

: stormy, tumultuous

— bois·ter·ous·ly adverb

— bois·ter·ous·ness noun

Examples of BOISTEROUS

1. A large and boisterous crowd attended the concert.
2. <the fans at the baseball game became particularly boisterous after the home run>
3. The crowd was young and boisterous, the cheeseburgers were juicy and perfectly charred, and the place was always packed. —Jonathan Black, Saveur, October 2007
4. Suzanne Massie, boisterous and voluble as we drove through her adopted neighborhood in St. Petersburg, hurtled to a sudden stop. She was laughing uproariously to see the spot, where five years earlier, her rented car had fallen apart … —Christopher Lydon, Atlantic, February 1993
5. Things had apparently gotten a little too boisterous during the Northern Ohio Girls Soccer League games. And it wasn't the kids. Fed up with noisy, know-it-all parents, the league banned cheering and jeering from the sidelines for one game, which they dubbed Silent Sunday. —Kate Rounds, Ms., December 1999/January 2000

Origin of BOISTEROUS

Middle English boistous crude, clumsy, from Anglo-French

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to BOISTEROUS

Synonyms

hell-raising, knockabout, rambunctious, raucous, robustious, roisterous, rollicking, rowdy, rumbustious [chiefly British], wild and woolly

Antonyms

orderly

Related Words

callithumpian, carnival, carnivalesque, larrikin [chiefly Australian], raffish, rampageous, raucous, riotous, rowdyish, ruffianly; stormy, tempestuous, turbulent, violent; headstrong, intractable, obstreperous, recalcitrant, uncontrollable, uncontrolled, undisciplined, ungovernable, uninhibited, unmanageable, unreserved, unrestrained, unruly, wild, willful (or wilful); bubbly, buoyant, effervescent, exuberant, high-spirited, impassioned, lively, sprightly, vivacious; clamorous, loudmouthed, noisy, openmouthed, rackety, strident, vociferous; howling, screaming, yelling

Near Antonyms

sedate, sober, solemn, somber (or sombre), staid; decorous, dignified, proper, seemly; calm, hushed, noiseless, peaceful, placid, quiet, restrained, serene, silent, soundless, tranquil; collected, composed, constrained, controlled, imperturbable, inhibited, repressed, self-controlled, unflappable, unruffled; moderate, reasonable, subdued, temperate; impassive, phlegmatic, stoic (or stoical), stolid; depressed; aloof, detached, indifferent

See Synonym Discussion at vociferous

Rhymes with BOISTEROUS

cloistress