rumbustious

[ ruhm-buhs-chuhs ]

adjective

, Chiefly British.

1. rambunctious.

rumbustious

/ rʌmˈbʌstjəs /

adjective

1. boisterous or unruly

Derived Forms

• rumˈbustiously, adverb
• rumˈbustiousness, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of rumbustious¹

1775–80; probably variant of robustious

Word History and Origins

Origin of rumbustious¹

C18: probably a variant of robustious

Example Sentences

One described his management style as "rumbustious", sometimes shouting at colleagues - either a "bulldog" or a "bully", depending on which side you were on; the other source agreed.

From BBC

I enjoyed learning the word “rumbustious,” and that the royals once amused themselves on a beach in a downright Kennedyesque fashion, flinging “small pellets of bird dung”at one another and then catapulting into the sea.

From New York Times

Like rumbustious Walt Whitman, “The Heart of American Poetry” is large and contains multitudes, being part “Song of Myself” and part July Fourth celebration.

From Washington Post

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw praised Harbour for his "rumbustious and scene-stealer of a comic turn" and suggested his character "could well ascend to spinoff greatness of his own".

From BBC

As the well-read Schweitzer unobtrusively acknowledges, he borrowed Sherlock’s alternate 19th-century Britain from Joan Aiken’s rumbustious Dido Twite novels.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• boisterous
• fierce
• hectic
• raucous
• riotous
• stormy
• turbulent
• violent