Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Noisily and stubbornly defiant.
- adj. Aggressively boisterous.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Making a great noise or outcry; clamorous; vociferous; noisy.
- Synonyms Tumultuous, boisterous, uproarious.
Wiktionary
- adj. Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous.
- adj. Noisily and stubbornly defiant.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; clamorous; noisy; vociferous.
- adj. Resistant to control; unruly.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. noisily and stubbornly defiant
- adj. boisterously and noisily aggressive
Etymologies
- First attested circa 17th century, from Latin obstreperus "clamorous, noisy," from obstrepere, "to make a noise against, oppose noisily," from ob-, "against" + strepere, "to noise." (Wiktionary)
- From Latin obstreperus, noisy, from obstrepere, to make a noise against : ob-, against; see ob- + strepere, to make a noise (of imitative origin). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But the truthers quickly became known as obstreperous crazies who disrupted media events, most notably a taping of the HBO show "Real Time With Bill Maher," in 2007.”
“My father took the only course, as it seemed, that was open to "obstreperous" slaves - he took to the woods.”
“He meets an Englishman on a French train who pleases him much, and the two become good friends and see Rome together, but the fellow's wife is "obstreperous" and "haughty in her manner" and so”
“The teacher and her "obstreperous" pupils had disappeared from Horsford and had been almost forgotten.”
“Edgar bade him adieu; and the faithful Ferdinand drove him wherever he had to go, and finally to Kensington Palace Gardens, where he was ushered into the drawing-room, to find Marilda, resolved upon unconsciousness, but only succeeding in a kind of obstreperous cordiality and good will, which, together with the hot room, made him quite dizzy; and his answers were so much at random, that he sent”
“obstreperous" pupils had disappeared from Horsford and had been almost forgotten.”
“For instance, as new research shows, obstreperous behavior in early childhood does not predict academic difficulty in elementary and middle school.”
“Most teachers and many parents worry when a child is obstreperous.”
“As his rating bumped still lower, he found himself constrained at every step by a hostile parliament, obstreperous governors, and unruly businessmen.”
“A Los Angeles artist who gave that city's art establishment a bursting sense of pride for having nurtured such an obstreperous talent, he earned his celebrity status in part by retaining the obsessions and wounds of a smart Catholic working-class kid from the suburbs of Detroit who had never entirely assimilated to his sun-splashed California home.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘obstreperous’.
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 94 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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phrontistery - o
from phrontistery.info
ozostomia, ozoniferous, oxytone, oxytocic, oxyphonia, oxymoron, oxygeusia, oxyblepsia, oxyacanthous, oxter, oxyacaesthesia, owling and 504 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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New Words
Words I want to add to my working vocabulary.
picayune, elision, intimated, modicum, non sequitur, insouciant, vituperate, asperity, perfidious, gainsay, fulmination, inimical and 11 more...
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Words to research
balkanize, obstreperous, dysphoria, euphoria, sinecure, abstruse, chin music, colophon, signature, notwithstanding, nullity, nullity of a dete... and 26 more...
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New Words
idiopathic, explicate, expiate, pellucid, exogenous, pelagic, manque, salonniere, pedantic, expatiate, cyclamen, peregrination and 83 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
Scribble, Newfangled, swift, swathe, budget, obstreperous, trickle, rank, covetous, scratch, hunch, dodge and 179 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for obstreperous.

Noelle Knight "And sometimes when he does sing, it brings back memories, and he gets, ah, obstreperous." -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris Feb 5, 2011
yarb I rather like "obstroporous" for its echo of stroppy. Jan 7, 2011
gootnbewg For many years I spelt it "obstroporous". The curse of strine. Jan 7, 2011
refenestration How wonderful. A simple definition for such a complicated word! Reminds me of my siblings, though.. Nov 24, 2009
beanlowry I read this in a book today: "While a guest aboard a British warship anchored at Unalaska, he became drunk and obstreperous, embarrassing his fellow officers and shocking his host." John Taliaferro, "In a Far Country: The True Story of a Mission, a Marriage, a Murder, and the Remarkable Reindeer Rescue of 1898," 2006, pg. 203. Feb 16, 2009
vortexlip (deleted) Jan 29, 2009
yarb Just as this harangue was over, we saw a great crowd of both sexes coming out of town into the plain. Who should it be but the new-married couple, attended by their families and friends, with ten or twelve musicians in the van, producing a most obstreperous din of harmony.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 2 ch. 9 Sep 13, 2008
Prolagus A boisterously and noisily aggressive stain? Sep 8, 2008
vaguelyremincent I used this one today at work to describe a stain on a table. My coworker thought that I was speaking gibberish! Sep 8, 2008
ladyphlogiston There's a guy I know who practically defines this word...I gave him a T-shirt with "obstreperous" written across the chest and he loves it
More to the point, we used this a lot growing up. My boyfriend was always amused to hear my little sister (five years old or so) telling the dog to "stop being obstreperous!" Jul 19, 2008
hildjj Heard on CarTalk #0822. Jul 18, 2008
toodreamy The book about the naughty kite, by Ted Greenwood was called "Obstreperous". It is always in demand by readers who loved it as a child. Feb 11, 2008
kewpid Unruly or difficult to control Sep 17, 2007
fitzage I've loved this word ever since my college roommate introduced me to it 7 or 8 years ago. Feb 23, 2007
liu_xing (not as impressive as Joyce, unfortunately) Jan 23, 2007
liu_xing I have a feeling I first saw this word in a kid's book about a naughty kite. Anyone remember that one? Jan 23, 2007
ecrivaine33 I saw this word for the first time ever today in a Boston Globe article. Jan 23, 2007
brtom "Of course his infant majesty was most obstreperous at such toilet formalities and he let everyone know it ..."
Joyce, Ulysses, 13 Jan 14, 2007