Rampage
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A course of violent, frenzied action.
"Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities."
- 2 violently angry and destructive behavior wordnet
- 3 Wild partying, typically a drinking binge
"Great card he was. Waltzing in Stamer street with Ignatius Gallaher on a Sunday morning, the landlady's two hats pinned on his head. Out on the rampage all night."
- 1 To move about wildly or violently.
"In the hip science of ultrasmall nanotechnology, fantastical future possibilities like rampaging nanorobots capture the most attention, but the first fruits of the field have been more mundane: tiny bits of mostly ordinary stuff that just sit there."
- 2 act violently, recklessly, or destructively wordnet
Example
More examples"Once again, the dog has gone on a rampage."
Etymology
From Scots rampage, equivalent to ramp + -age. Perhaps influenced by Middle English rampnen (“to force, ram”), from Old English *hrampian, from Proto-West Germanic *hrampōn (“to obstruct, hinder”), see ramp.
Related phrases
More for "rampage"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.