Synonyms
- ado
- alarums and excursions
- ballyhoo
- blather
- bluster
- bobbery
- bother
- bustle
- clatter
- clutter [chiefly dialect]
- coil
- commotion
- corroboree [Australian]
- disturbance
- do [chiefly dialect]
- foofaraw
- fun
- furor
- furore
- fuss
- helter-skelter
- hoo-ha
- hoo-hah
- hoopla
- hubble-bubble
- hubbub
- hullabaloo
- hurly
- hurly-burly
- hurricane
- hurry
- hurry-scurry
- hurry-skurry
- kerfuffle [chiefly British]
- moil
- pandemonium
- pother
- row
- ruckus
- ruction
- shindy
- splore [Scottish]
- squall
- stew
- stir
- storm
- to-do
- tumult
- turmoil
- uproar
- welter
- whirl
- williwaw
- zoo
Examples of rumpus in a Sentence
the kids made such a rumpus that they woke up everyone else in the house
Recent Examples on the Web
A little boy named Max who got up on the wrong side of the bed meets a troupe of teeth-gnashing monsters — and so the wild rumpus begins.
—
Karen Cicero, Good Housekeeping, 10 July 2023
Everything's wild rumpus springs from the everyday struggles of an L.A. laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) and her semi-estranged husband and daughter (Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu, respectively), then starts shooting out sparks from there like a Catherine wheel.
—Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 28 June 2022
But the wild rumpus came to an end around the time Trump helped orchestrate an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
—Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 31 Jan. 2023
Let the wild rumpus start with this no-sew costume of Max, the main character from the beloved children's book, Where the Wild Things Are.
—Amy Mitchell, Country Living, 30 Aug. 2022
Karen Cicero, Good Housekeeping, 10 July 2023
Everything's wild rumpus springs from the everyday struggles of an L.A. laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) and her semi-estranged husband and daughter (Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu, respectively), then starts shooting out sparks from there like a Catherine wheel.
—Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 28 June 2022
But the wild rumpus came to an end around the time Trump helped orchestrate an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
—Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 31 Jan. 2023
Let the wild rumpus start with this no-sew costume of Max, the main character from the beloved children's book, Where the Wild Things Are.
—Amy Mitchell, Country Living, 30 Aug. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rumpus.' 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
origin unknown
First Known Use
1745, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing rumpus
Dictionary Entries Near rumpus
Cite this Entry
“Rumpus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rumpus. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
rumpus
noun
rum·pus
ˈrəm-pəs 
: a noisy commotion
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