rough-and-tumble

American  

[ruhf-uhn-tuhm-buhl] / ˈrʌf ənˈtʌm bəl /

adjective

1. characterized by violent, random, disorderly action and struggles.

   a rough-and-tumble fight; He led an adventuresome, rough-and-tumble life.

2. given to such action.

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noun

1. rough and unrestrained competition, fighting, struggling, etc.

rough-and-tumble British  

noun

1. a fight or scuffle without rules

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adjective

1. characterized by roughness, disorderliness, and disregard for rules or conventions

rough and tumble Idioms  

1. Disorderly scuffling or infighting, as in She had some reservations about entering the rough and tumble of local politics. This expression originated in the late 1700s in boxing, where it referred to a fight without rules. [Mid-1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of rough-and-tumble

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

Yet to many he was best experienced onstage, where he’d thread his songs into a kind of running monologue about his rough-and-tumble life.

From Los Angeles Times

Abstraction meets landscape; painterly application meets rough-and-tumble applications.

From The Wall Street Journal

This may work in some of the rough-and-tumble scraps of urban politics, but it’s hardly the approach of someone who wants to unite a city as important as New York.

From The Wall Street Journal

Indeed, the Maddens found a certain frisson from the get-go in writing about their rough-and-tumble upbringing with a squeaky-clean pop flair.

From Los Angeles Times

On the one hand Klopp's 'heavy metal' football was tamed by an appreciation of territorial dominance, on the other Guardiola used Klopp's ideas to adapt to the rough-and-tumble of Premier League life.

From BBC

Related Words

• disorderly
• rough
• rugged
• strenuous
• tempestuous
• turbulent