Boisterous | Definition of boisterous by Merriam-Webster

Full Definition of BOISTEROUS

1

obsolete

a : coarse

b : durable, strong

c : massive

2

a : noisily turbulent : rowdy

b : marked by or expressive of exuberance and high spirits

3

: stormy, tumultuous

— bois·ter·ous·ly adverb

— bois·ter·ous·ness noun

See boisterous defined for English-language learners

See boisterous defined for kids

Examples of BOISTEROUS

The crowd was young and boisterous, the cheeseburgers were juicy and perfectly charred, and the place was always packed. —Jonathan Black, Saveur, October 2007
Suzanne Massie, boisterous and voluble as we drove through her adopted neighborhood in St. Petersburg, hurtled to a sudden stop. She was laughing uproariously to see the spot, where five years earlier, her rented car had fallen apart … —Christopher Lydon, Atlantic, February 1993
Things had apparently gotten a little too boisterous during the Northern Ohio Girls Soccer League games. And it wasn't the kids. Fed up with noisy, know-it-all parents, the league banned cheering and jeering from the sidelines for one game, which they dubbed Silent Sunday. —Kate Rounds, Ms., December 1999/January 2000
[+]more [-]hide

Origin of BOISTEROUS

Middle English boistous crude, clumsy, from Anglo-French

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to BOISTEROUS

Synonyms: hell-raising, knockabout, rambunctious, raucous, robustious, roisterous, rollicking, rowdy, rumbustious [chiefly British], wild and woolly

Antonyms: orderly

Synonym Discussion of BOISTEROUS

vociferous, clamorous, blatant, strident, boisterous, obstreperous mean so loud or insistent as to compel attention. vociferous implies a vehement shouting or calling out <vociferous cries of protest and outrage>. clamorous may imply insistency as well as vociferousness in demanding or protesting <clamorous demands for prison reforms>. blatant implies an offensive bellowing or insensitive loudness <blatant rock music> <a blatant clamor for impeachment>. strident suggests harsh and discordant noise <heard the strident cry of the crow>. boisterous suggests a noisiness and turbulence due to high spirits <a boisterous crowd of party goers>. obstreperous suggests unruly and aggressive noisiness and resistance to restraint <the obstreperous demonstrators were arrested>.