rampage
Americannoun
-
rampages
plural
-
violent or excited behavior that is reckless, uncontrolled, or destructive.
-
a state of violent anger or agitation.
The smallest mistake sends him into a rampage. The river has gone on a rampage and flooded the countryside.
verb (used without object)
-
rampages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rampaged,
past participle, past
-
rampaging
present participle
verb
noun
-
angry or destructive behaviour
-
behaving violently or destructively
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
rampagesimple
-
rampagessimple
-
have rampagedperfect
-
has rampagedperfect
-
am rampagingprogressive
-
are rampagingprogressive
-
is rampagingprogressive
-
have been rampagingperfect progressive
-
has been rampagingperfect progressive
Past
-
rampagedsimple
-
had rampagedperfect
-
was rampagingprogressive
-
were rampagingprogressive
-
had been rampagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rampage
Explanation
A rampage is when a group of people is destructive and out of control, like an angry, violent riot following an unpopular political decision. A single individual can go on a rampage, wreaking havoc and destruction, but the word most often describes the actions of an angry mob. You can also use rampage as a verb, as when furious football fans rampage through a town overturning cars and setting things on fire. The word was originally Scottish, from the Middle English ramp, "rave or rush wildly about."
Vocabulary lists containing rampage
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The police spokeswoman added the force believe the incident to be a "rampage".
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Even as the child cries “Mommy,” Paul continues on her rampage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2026
You would have an executive that was just on a rampage, with no one willing to stand up.
From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2026
Bayern continued the rampage early in the second half, with Olise scoring and forcing Wolfsburg's Moritz Jenz into conceding another own goal inside the space of three minutes.
From Barron's ● Jan. 11, 2026
But for every minute my BlackBerry lay dormant in my lap, I felt the walls starting to breach, the doubts beginning to rampage.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Eggs: So, that whole thing about the U.S. trying to import more eggs as bird flu rampages across American livestock centers?
From Slate ● Mar. 5, 2025
Fight sequences are fewer this time around, which makes the narrative progression feel sluggish at times, compared to previous rampages.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2025
Yamazaki refers to Toho Studios’ original method of filming Godzilla rampages in 1954.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
When the monster arrives, its rampages across Tokyo evoke the Allied fire bombings of the war, including the 1945 nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 3, 2023
Even his gleaning rampages were not forbidden by anything but custom and tradition.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Since then, Nigeria has allowed hundreds of American troops to be posted to the country to train Nigerian forces and coordinate targeting of militant groups that have rampaged through the Lake Chad Basin for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Murley lost his bearings under a high ball and Bundee Aki rampaged over from the resulting pressure to level things.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2025
By Sunday, Palworld was one of the most popular games on the planet as players rampaged through a cruel world of chickens and squirrels engaged in shootouts.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2024
By the first winter wave of the pandemic, COVID-19 rampaged through swaths of California, sending patients to the hospital in droves, overwhelming Los Angeles’ morgues with bodies and prompting officials to issue new stay-at-home orders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2023
He rampaged up and down the dock, shaking his finger at the boys as they sat in their shell.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Gibson-Park darted through the gold shirts to score after Keenan produced a superb try-saving tackle to deny the rampaging Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii a certain try.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Herds of rampaging wildebeest have looked less awe-inspiring as these fans have for weeks.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
“Viewed positively, what the American revolution did was to give the common man a voice, a veto, elbow room and a refuge from the rampaging presumptions of his ‘betters.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
The showdown pits two players who are on rampaging form and yet to drop a set in Melbourne in the past fortnight.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
And there he was like a freight train on the loose, out of control, rampaging wildly, trying to careen toward Guilmet but too late, too late.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
