rambunctious
adjective

- difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous

- full of energy and difficult to control

- a rambunctious person is energetic in a cheerful, noisy way

Dictionary dot com / Merriam-Webster / Collins Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

The word "rambunctious" is of American origin and is believed to have been coined in the early 19th century. It is a variant of the word "rumbustious”, which is an older word that has been in use since the late 18th century. Both words are derived from the word "robustious," which means "robust" or "strong".

The exact meaning of the word "rambunctious" is somewhat disputed, but it is generally understood to mean "boisterous", "unruly", or "mischievous”. It is often used to describe children who are full of energy and get into trouble.

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MARLEY THE RAMBUNCTIOUS RETRIEVER

In his best-selling memoir “Marley & Me”, journalist John Grogan wrote about his family's dog, Marley.

Grogan had bought his wife Jenny an 18-karat gold necklace for her birthday, but to her horror, the necklace vanished shortly after she had put it on. Grogan reports: “As we searched the house, I noticed Marley acting suspiciously and saw the necklace dangling from his mouth. As we cautiously tried to retrieve it, Marley swallowed it whole.”

Grogan got the necklace back several days later, after administering a laxative... he was amazed to discover that the gold was the most brilliant he had ever seen. "Marley's stomach acids had done an amazing job,” he later recalled. "Man," I said with a whistle, "we should open a jewelry-cleaning business".

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SYNONYMS

boisterous, bubbly, bumptious, chaotic, clamorous, callithumpian, disorderly, effervescent, exuberant, headstrong, hell-raising, impish, mischief-making, noisy, obstreperous, raffish, RAMBUNCTIOUS, raucous, riotous, rollicking, rowdy, rowdyish, rumbustious, screaming, spirited, stormy, strident, turbulent, tempestuous, undisciplined, uncontrolled, ungovernable, uninhibited, unrestrained, unruly, voluble, wild, wild and woolly

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“The word RAMBUNCTIOUS came more to public attention after John Fogerty’s 1997 hit song ‘Rambunctious Boy’.”

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