Standard Lemma guide

rumbustious

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

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Synonym of rambunctious, boisterous and unruly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rambunctious, boisterous and unruly

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, rambunctious, robustious, unruly

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Uncertain but probably variation of robustious (“robust, large, noisy, violent”), from robust + -ious. Alternatively, from rum- (“nonsense syllable”) + bust + -ious.