rumbustious

adjective

rum·​bus·​tious ˌrəm-ˈbəs-chəs 

chiefly British

: rambunctious

rumbustiously adverb chiefly British

rumbustiousness noun chiefly British

Synonyms

• boisterous
• hell-raising
• knockabout
• rambunctious
• raucous
• robustious
• roisterous
• rollicking
• rowdy

Example Sentences

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

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Word History

Etymology

alteration of robustious

First Known Use

circa 1777, in the meaning defined above