rowdy
Americannoun
-
rowdies
plural
adjective
-
rowdier,
comparative
-
rowdiest
superlative
-
rough and disorderly.
rowdy behavior at school.
-
Slang. great; very enjoyable, often with boisterous fun.
a rowdy time at the arcade with my best friends.
- Synonyms:
- obstreperous, unruly, boisterous
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of rowdy
An Americanism dating back to 1810–20; perhaps from row 3
Explanation
If you’re rowdy, you’re loud and raucous. You’re disturbing the peace and somebody’s likely to ask you to quiet down. When your team wins, if you and your teammates celebrate by running through the streets screaming and wrestling each other on people’s lawns, you’re a rowdy bunch. You may be rough and obnoxious or just rowdy in a good-natured way. But you reserve the name rowdy for a cruel and brutal guy. Remember that bully in the seventh grade who kept taking your lunch money? He was a rowdy.
Vocabulary lists containing rowdy
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Schooled
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Frindle
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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:
This “5×5 continuum” includes the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses and Oasis—boozy, rowdy bands that in some cases struggled to outdo the standards set by their early albums.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Usually the bar is a rowdy reprieve filled with sweaty bodies and pounding bass lines, with Lo situated behind the DJ decks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Baylors, who last went when she was 17, says it is "not as rowdy as people say it is, it's not like some battle zone or anything".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
On YouTube, the very same platform hosting Duffy’s vapid post-vacation slideshow, content abounds showing soccer lovers’ appreciation for our fast-food joints, rowdy dance clubs and ranch dressing.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
This quiet, motionless adult was apparently more Otto’s speed than the rowdy nursery bonobos.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
Still, the notion that public exposure of their antics will somehow steer these rich young rowdies toward responsibility and respect feels quixotic, given that public exposure is the air they breathe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
Reid, once a season ticket holder, is not one of the rowdies, and he feels the perception is overblown.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 7, 2021
His character was a wild man, but unlike Jim Belushi or Chris Farley, other rowdies with contagious presence, Galifianakis’ performance was shot through with pure weirdness.
From Slate ● Jan. 20, 2016
Past "Fast and Furious" rowdies such as Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Sung Kang join Diesel and company for an "Ocean's Eleven"-style heist romp.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2011
“I can’t imagine how you decided to besmirch the movement by inviting those rowdies here.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
He also warned the US hosts about the rowdier aspects of football support.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
We couldn’t wait to see it again with a rowdier crowd.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2026
But there was far less focus on the even rowdier world of “dating” shows aimed at young men.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2025
Mr. Paden didn’t mind — a crowd is a crowd — though sometimes he seemed to miss the rowdier old days.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
He keeps the rowdier kids in line by standing up and glaring.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
Nebraska’s arena has become one of the rowdiest barns in the Big Ten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
Should the Marlins need a tip or two on how to win a postseason game in Philadelphia in front of one of the loudest, rowdiest atmospheres in baseball, they can just ask their manager.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 2, 2023
The two had a cordial interaction at Mr. Biden’s raucous State of the Union address, shaking hands and smiling at each other — at one point, the speaker appeared to shush the rowdiest members.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023
Even the rowdiest live acts seemed to know that this festival was going to be a crucible for good behavior.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2021
“The winter solstice and the two equinoxes. Midsummer Eve tends to be the rowdiest of them all.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
