Rowdy

//ˈɹaʊdi// adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A boisterous person; a brawler. countable

    "Carpenter recruited his gang at the saloon, rowdies all. They slept the day, drank well into the evening, and then set off for their pastime."

  2. 2
    a cruel and brutal fellow wordnet
  3. 3
    money; ready money. obsolete, slang, uncountable

    "I don’t know whether I quite approve of your throwing over Mr. P. for Mr. F., and don’t think Foker’s such a pretty name, and from your account of him he seems a muff, and not a beauty. But he has got the rowdy, which is the thing."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Loud and disorderly; riotous; boisterous.
Adjective
  1. 1
    disturbing the public peace; loud and rough wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
brawlerbullydisorderlyraucousruffianruffian

Antonyms

All antonyms
quiet

Example

More examples

"My brother has been much too rowdy lately."

Etymology

Possibly from row (“noisy argument”), originally used as a noun.

Related phrases

rowdy-sheeter

More for "rowdy"

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