riotous
English
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English riotous, from Anglo-Norman riotous; equivalent to riot + -ous.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɹaɪətəs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
riotous
- Having the characteristics of a riot.
- Causing, inciting or taking part in a riot.
- 1982 April 10, Roosevelt Williamson, “Prison Racism and Legal Slavery in America”, in Gay Community News, page 15:
- The prison administrators are always planting seeds of hate, division, separatism, and prison peer group racism in the various ethnic groups here, causing friction and riotous situations where one group is set against another.
- Unrestrained and boisterous; degenerate or dissolute.
- 1959 February, “Letters to the Editor: Open-Type Coaches on B.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 135:
- Open carriages tend to be draughty and inadequately heated. The passenger in them has no escape from the annoyance of squalling babies, boisterous drunks, and riotous teddy-boys, who may be at the far end of the coach but whose din cannot be shut out.
Synonyms
Derived terms
- riotous living
- riotously
- riotousness
- unriotous
Translations
having the characteristics of a riot
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Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman riotous; equivalent to rioten + -ous.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌriːutˈuːs/, /ˈriːutus/, /ˈriːətus/
Adjective
riotous (plural and weak singular riotouse)
- degenerate, dissolute, lax
- riotous, rowdy, boisterous
- (rare) violent, savage
- (rare) difficult, unmanageable
Descendants
References
- “rīotǒus, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.