Rambunctious means overly exuberant, unruly, extremely boisterous. Rambunctious is first seen in print in Boston, Massachusetts in 1830 spelled as rumbunctious, probably derived from an earlier word, rumbustious, which means boisterous or turbulent. An alternative explanation is that rambunctious is derived from the prefix ram-, which intensifies the meaning of the word to which it is attached, and bumptious, a word meaning assertive. Either way, rambunctious is one of many American words coined in the early nineteenth century, related words are rambunctiously, rambunctiousness.
Examples
But the great unknown hanging over The Donald’s candidacy has always been trying to calculate how many of those thousands attending his rambunctious, extemporaneous talk-a-thons will actually take 10 minutes out of their day to cast a ballot for the man. (U.S. News & World Report)
Forty-nine rambunctious puppies took center stage at Puppy Bowl XII Sunday afternoon, but only one puppy was crowned Most Valuable Puppy (MVP). (The Huffington Post)
A bouncy, rambunctious dog who goes rushing up to visit a sick or hurting dog or even a stressed or fearful dog might get a very nasty message from the uncomfortable dog. (The Ledger)
She describes Happy Little Things as being very rambunctious and a great fit for Alberta Ballet. (The Calgary Herald)
Mitisek did, however, update “Schicchi” to the swinging 1960s, with all the funky fashions thereof, thereby bringing its rambunctious action closer in time to Poulenc’s 1959 musical portrait of a woman engaged in a final phone conversation with her former lover. (The Chicago Tribune)
While some say they are in favor of a combination youth and senior center, as it would provide the two generations an opportunity to learn from one another, others think children — and especially teenagers — are too rambunctious for the centers to be housed in the same space. (The Recorder)