Roughhouse

//ˈɹʌf.haʊs// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    rowdy behaviour uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To behave rowdily or violently.; To play roughly (with physical roughness). intransitive

    "Out in the street, some delinquents were roughhousing, until the police drove by."

  2. 2
    engage in rough or disorderly play wordnet
  3. 3
    To behave rowdily or violently.; To commit physical assault. intransitive

    "Out in the street, some delinquents were roughhousing, until the police drove by."

  4. 4
    To treat (someone or something) roughly or violently. transitive

    "Out in the street, some delinquents were roughhousing a victim, until the police drove by."

Example

More examples

"The kids like to roughhouse with each other."

Etymology

From rough + house.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.