English Reference

Word

ruckus

US/ˈɹəkəs/

UK/ɹˈʌkəs/

Definition

n. a loud, noisy, and often unpleasant sound. It can also describe a situation where people are shouting or fighting loudly.

n. a loud, noisy, and often chaotic disturbance. Often used to describe a sudden outbreak of noise or a scene of commotion.

Examples

“The loud ruckus from the street kept me awake all night.”

“A sudden ruckus in the hallway made the teacher stop her lesson and investigate.”

“The sudden ruckus in the library was caused by a group of students who had accidentally knocked over several heavy shelves of books.”

Examples

simple

“The loud ruckus from the street kept me awake all night.”

contextual

“A sudden ruckus in the hallway made the teacher stop her lesson and investigate.”

complex

“The sudden ruckus in the library was caused by a group of students who had accidentally knocked over several heavy shelves of books.”

Etymology

Recorded since 1890; probably a blend of ruction (“disturbance”) + rumpus (“disturbance, fracas”) - potentially with influence from raucous (“rowdy, hoarse”), from Latin raucus (“rough, hoarse”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Occasional
Updated

Scan code

englishreference.com/q/ruckus

English Reference