rumpus
Americannoun
-
a noisy or violent disturbance; commotion; uproar.
There was a terrible rumpus going on upstairs.
-
a heated controversy.
a rumpus over the school-bond issue.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rumpus
First recorded in 1755–65; origin uncertain
Explanation
A rumpus is an uproar or a commotion. Setting a litter of excited puppies loose in a kindergarten classroom would be sure to cause a rumpus. While a rumpus can be loud and boisterous, like the rumpus underneath a piñata in the midst of a huge birthday party, others take the form of heated arguments. This kind of rumpus might occur during a political scandal, for example. Experts guess that the informal rumpus might come from the now-obsolete word robustious, which means "boisterous or noisy." In the mid-twentieth century, children's playrooms began to be called "rumpus rooms."
Vocabulary lists containing rumpus
Bridge to Terabithia
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Wayne State University's Word Warriors: a list of words to revive in your vocabulary
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My Side of the Mountain
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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.
Another rumpus at this World Cup concerns the installation of hydration breaks at the midway point of each half.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026
The court heard that she told police: "Kate told me he tried to get up the night before, and she tried to stop him. Ian had said 'leave me alone or I'll cause a rumpus'."
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2024
At the center of the rumpus is the confrontational enthusiast Nicholas Reeves, 66, who shares a home near Oxford, England, with a nameless house cat.
From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2022
Goodell hosted the event from his Westchester home, in what looked to be a stately rumpus room.
From Slate • Apr. 23, 2020
“I appeared on the TV game show Concentration in 1968,” he announced, “and won a roomful of furniture and wood paneling for my rumpus room.”
From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
