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
Ben Goldfarb, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Oct. 2024
Hundreds of the rambunctious mammals were showing off their affinity for acrobatics, somersaulting out of the water with infectious exuberance.
—Brad Japhe, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Oct. 2024
Rihanna could not be happier to be the mother of two rambunctious young boys.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 14 Oct. 2024
But when a group of rambunctious teens steal their belongings and wreck their car, the couple is then thrown into a violent cat-and-mouse game for survival.
—James Mercadante, EW.com, 22 Oct. 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 10 Nov. 2024.
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rambunctious
adjective
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