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riot

UK/ˈɹaɪ.ət/US/ˈɹaɪ.ət/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,206 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: riots

A riot is a violent outburst by an angry crowd. A riot broke out, riot police, read the riot act.

In English law a riot has a legal definition involving a number of people using or threatening unlawful violence together. Read the riot act is literal in origin: an Act of 1714 required an official to read a proclamation ordering a crowd to disperse. A riot of colour is a cheerful figurative use.

Photographer not credited · Public domain

Definitions of riot

  1. 1nounriotA violent outburst by an angry crowd.B2

    “The protest turned into a riot, with shop windows smashed and cars set on fire.”

riot is a disturbance.

Where it comes from

Old French riote means a quarrel or dispute. Its own origin is uncertain.

  1. Latin

    rugio — to roar

  2. Old French

    riote — debate

  3. Middle English

    riot — debauched living, dissipation

  4. English, today

    riot

Built from

  • rioter · Old French — to quarrel

From Middle English riot (“debauched living, dissipation”), from Old French riote (“debate”), from rioter (“to quarrel”), perhaps related to riboter or from Latin rugio (“to roar”). Compare French riotte and Occitan riòta.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Crime & Law

Practise this word

riot in the wild

  • A body of evidence suggests that riots do not exhibit irrational, herd-like behavior (sometimes called mob mentality), but actually follow inverted social norms.

    Riot

  • Police forces often have difficulty dealing with a riot.

    Riot

  • The protests turned into a race riot against African Americans by Irish American rioters.

    New York City draft riots

  • However, these methods usually fail when there is severe anger, or the riot was planned or organized.

    Riot control

  • Since the 1980s, riot control officers have also used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, stun grenades, and electric tasers.

    Riot control

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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.