rumbustious

adjective

rum·​bus·​tious ˌrəm-ˈbəs-chəs How to pronounce rumbustious (audio)
chiefly British
rumbustiously adverb chiefly British
rumbustiousness noun chiefly British

Examples of rumbustious in a Sentence

while American university debates tend to be sedate affairs, their counterparts in Oxford are wholeheartedly rumbustious
Recent Examples on the Web The movie is both exquisite and rumbustious, stylized and energized. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 5 May 2022 From 1657, when tea first became available in London’s coffeehouses, to the early seventeen-hundreds, when women were invited in, recreational tea drinking was the preserve of rumbustious gentlemen. David Kortava, The New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2021 Still, there’s a lot of pleasing vitality to this great American story about how clever brewers took an ancient idea and unlocked an unheard-of range of innovations with a combination of capitalist energy and rumbustious creativity. Kyle Smith, National Review, 18 Apr. 2021 The tech titans, with their somewhat rumbustious Bay Area staffers, look quite vulnerable. The Economist, 22 June 2020 In August Tito Mboweni, his rumbustious finance minister, published a paper proposing sweeping yet doable reforms. The Economist, 19 Oct. 2019 Another popular view holds that Mr Trump’s rude and rumbustious character is really a merit in a time of great geopolitical and spiritual danger. The Economist, 5 July 2019 Ausilia, destined for spinsterhood, switches her spying from the lovers to the rumbustious, intimidating Jewish family who gather around the couple. Tim Parks, Harper's magazine, 10 Feb. 2019 The rumbustious suffragettes are relegated to small etchings on the new statue’s plinth, a marginalisation that hints at lingering unease with their methods. The Economist, 19 Apr. 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rumbustious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

alteration of robustious

First Known Use

circa 1777, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of rumbustious was circa 1777

Dictionary Entries Near rumbustious

Cite this Entry

“Rumbustious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rumbustious. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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