rambunctious
adjective
Did you know?
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 meaning both "robust" and "boisterous."
Examples of rambunctious in a Sentence
Christine Persaud, USA Today, 26 Sep. 2025
Meeting at the family home just before the funeral, Anne (Emily Fairn), the only girl sibling, encourages her rambunctious brothers to at least pretend to be a united front in public.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 25 Sep. 2025
Seeing his son-in-law and Grant on the sidelines cheering on Ali without Michelle while chasing after Haley, a rambunctious 21-month-old toddler, Ray asked Ben where his daughter was.
—Ted Katauskas, Outside, 23 Sep. 2025
That all changed a year ago, when Mohamed — now a rambunctious 13-year-old — was able to enter an innovative self-learning program delivered by UNICEF with funding from Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises hosted by UNICEF.
—Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rambunctious
Cite this Entry
“Rambunctious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rambunctious. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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rambunctious
adjective
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