rambunctious

UK/ɹæmˈbʌŋ(k)ʃəs/US/ɹæmˈbʌŋ(k)ʃəs/

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,201 of 15,258neutral

Rambunctious means boisterous and hard to control. A rambunctious child, rambunctious puppies, a rambunctious crowd.

It is affectionate rather than critical and belongs to children and animals, where the energy is expected. It is a chiefly American reshaping of rumbustious, which is the older British word for the same thing.

Definitions of rambunctious

1adjectiverambunctiousBoisterous and hard to control.C1
“The rambunctious boys knocked over a vase while chasing each other around the house.”

rambunctious is a quality.

Where it comes from

An American variant of rumbustious, itself probably an alteration of robustious.

Built from

rumbustious · English — boisterous and unruly

A variant of rumbustious (“boisterous and unruly”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

rambunctious in the wild

Robert Henryson's Scots poem The Testament of Cresseid imagined a rambunctious fate for Criseyde not given by Chaucer.
Troilus and Criseyde
A highly popular, acclaimed and influential feature about rambunctious fifth-grader Skippy Skinner, his friends and his enemies, it was adapted into movies, a novel and a radio show.
Skippy (comic strip)
Malini was noted for the novelty of her performance as Geeta, who is rambunctious and sometimes even violent.
Seeta Aur Geeta
In 2003, retired "state Supreme Court Justice Stokes Robertson of Jackson, now 90" reflected on the history of rambunctious justices serving on the court.
Stokes Robertson Jr.
Sometimes the rambunctious sea gives us an ingenious lesson: it sinks a great vessel, only to float a blossom!
Trova (poetry)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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