Standard Lemma guide

rambunctious

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ɹæmˈbʌŋ(k)ʃəs/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R AE0 M B AH1 NG K SH AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, informal

Examples

  • The kids are being especially rambunctious today.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hyphy, robustious, rumbustious, rumbustical, shandy, unruly, wild

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a boisterous crowd
  • a social gathering that became rambunctious and out of hand
  • a robustious group of teenagers
  • beneath the rumbustious surface of his paintings is sympathy for the vulnerability of ordinary human beings
  • an unruly class

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: boisterous, robustious, rumbustious, unruly

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: буен (buen) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Bulgarian: необуздан (neobuzdan) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Chinese Mandarin: 粗暴 (cūbào) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Dutch: onstuimig — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Dutch: wild — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Finnish: raisu — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Finnish: riehakas — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Finnish: vallaton — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • French: turbulent — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Georgian: გაბრაზებული (gabrazebuli) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • German: wild — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • German: vom Affen gebissen (fam.) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Japanese: 始末に負えない (shimatsu ni oenai) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Japanese: 手に負えない (te ni oenai) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Korean: 난폭한 (nanpokhan) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Latin: strepitosus — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Polish: hałaśliwy — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Polish: wrzaskliwy — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Polish: żywiołowy — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Polish: niesforny — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Romanian: exuberant — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Romanian: neastâmpărat — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Romanian: zbanghiu — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Russian: бу́йный (bújnyj) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Russian: бу́рный (búrnyj) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Russian: непокла́дистый (nepokládistyj) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Russian: непоко́рный (nepokórnyj) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Russian: непослу́шный (neposlúšnyj) — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Spanish: chillón — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Spanish: estrepitoso — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Swedish: bångstyrig — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Swedish: oregerlig — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Swedish: ostyrig — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Swedish: yster — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Turkish: delişmen — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Turkish: zıpır — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Turkish: zırtapoz — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control
  • Turkish: zirzop — boisterous, energetic, noisy, and difficult to control