rampant

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adjective ram·pant \ ˈram-pənt also -ˌpant \

Definition of rampant

1 a :rearing upon the hind legs with forelegs extended

b :standing on one hind foot with one foreleg raised above the other and the head in profile —used of a heraldic animal

2 a :marked by a menacing wildness, extravagance, or absence of restraint

rampant rumors

b :profusely widespread

rampant weeds

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rampantly

adverb

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Examples of rampant in a Sentence

a weed that's rampant in this area
the mayor promised to put a stop to the rampant crime that plagued the city

Recent Examples of rampant from the Web

The team made it to Katy, a town west of Houston, where flooding is rampant.

— sarah brookbank, Cincinnati.com, "Cincinnati firefighters assist with Hurricane Harvey rescues in Texas," 28 Aug. 2017
The CICIG was formed in 2007 as a way to bolster notoriously weak judicial institutions in a country where impunity was rampant and murders were almost never solved.

— joshua partlow, Washington Post, "Guatemalan president attempts to kick out U.N. anti-corruption chief," 27 Aug. 2017
That may not be the answer some, like the Russian billionaire teaming up with Berkeley to study the star, were hoping to hear, given the rampant speculation that Tabby's Star has bred.

— david grossman, Popular Mechanics, "New Theory for "Alien Megastructure": A Planet Like Saturn, But Close To The Sun," 25 Aug. 2017
That’s bigger than either India or China, where piracy is rampant.

— sohee kim, Bloomberg.com, "The $4.7 Billion K-Pop Industry Chases Its ‘Michael Jackson Moment’," 22 Aug. 2017
Capital funding for public housing would be slashed by a whopping 68 percent — this, after years of cuts that, in New York alone, had left public-housing projects with rampant mold, broken elevators, and faulty boilers.

— charles p. pierce, Esquire, "This Story About Ben Carson's Role in the Trump Administration Is Damning," 22 Aug. 2017
Perhaps the biggest driver of this political divide has been evolving standards for what is considered acceptable speech in an industry still grappling, sometimes awkwardly, with rampant online harassment.

— maya kosoff, The Hive, "Can the Far Right Secede From Silicon Valley?," 17 Aug. 2017
Some of the children had been treated for encephalitis, a disease which preys on the young and malnourished and is rampant in the state during the monsoon, which runs from June till September.

— biswajeet banerjee, The Seattle Times, "35 children die in Indian hospital in 3 days," 12 Aug. 2017
Fraudulent claims became so rampant that Cigna Corp., the fourth-biggest U.S. health insurer, quit Florida’s Obamacare market in the fall of 2015, ahead of the sign-up period for 2016 plans.

— tom schoenberg, Bloomberg.com, "Trump’s First Health-Care Fraud Sweep Targets Doctors, Opioids," 13 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rampant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Illustration of rampant

Origin and Etymology of rampant

Middle English, from Anglo-French, present participle of ramper

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First Known Use: 14th century

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rampant Synonyms

Synonyms

abandoned, intemperate, raw, runaway, unbounded, unbridled, unchecked, uncontrolled, unhampered, unhindered, unrestrained

Antonyms

bridled, checked, constrained, controlled, curbed, governed, hampered, hindered, restrained, temperate

Related Words

uncontrollable, ungovernable; barbaric, hog wild, riotous, uninhibited, wild

Near Antonyms

moderate, tempered

RAMPANT Defined for English Language Learners

rampant

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adjective

Definition of rampant for English Language Learners

—used to describe something that is very common or that is spreading very quickly and in a way that is difficult to control
: growing quickly and in a way that is difficult to control