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."
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Examples of rambunctious in a Sentence
Matt Schneidman, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
Their instructions to their designers, Ms. Han said, was to devise an interior that was clean, calm and clutter-free but also punctuated by creative details that were hard-wearing enough to stand up to rambunctious play.
—Tim McKeough, New York Times, 24 Dec. 2024
The Pluck of the Irish In person, Boyle has that similar rambunctious and infectious humor that makes his version of Hughes so charming.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
The more rambunctious children ran up and down the stairways, while others sat quietly with their families, listening to old men recount myth and history.
—Winthrop Rodgers, The Dial, 14 Nov. 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 19 Jan. 2025.
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rambunctious
adjective
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