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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Noisily and stubbornly defiant.
  2. adj. Aggressively boisterous.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Making a great noise or outcry; clamorous; vociferous; noisy.
  2. Synonyms Tumultuous, boisterous, uproarious.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous.
  2. adj. Noisily and stubbornly defiant.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; clamorous; noisy; vociferous.
  2. adj. Resistant to control; unruly.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. noisily and stubbornly defiant
  2. adj. boisterously and noisily aggressive

Etymologies

  1. From Latin obstreperus, noisy, from obstrepere, to make a noise against : ob-, against; see ob- + strepere, to make a noise (of imitative origin).

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.”

    NYT > Home Page

  • “My father took the only course, as it seemed, that was open to "obstreperous" slaves - he took to the woods.”

    Finding a way out : an autobiography,

  • “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”

    A Book of Prefaces

  • “The teacher and her "obstreperous" pupils had disappeared from Horsford and had been almost forgotten.”

    Bricks without Straw A Novel

  • “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”

    The Pillars of the House, V1

  • “obstreperous" pupils had disappeared from Horsford and had been almost forgotten.”

    Bricks Without Straw

  • “For instance, as new research shows, obstreperous behavior in early childhood does not predict academic difficulty in elementary and middle school.”

    Simon & Schuster: Red Flags or Red Herrings?

  • “Most teachers and many parents worry when a child is obstreperous.”

    Simon & Schuster: Red Flags or Red Herrings?

  • “As his rating bumped still lower, he found himself constrained at every step by a hostile parliament, obstreperous governors, and unruly businessmen.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Return

  • “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.”

    The Wall Street Journal: How Will the Future Judge Him?

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Lists

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  • 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

‘obstreperous’ has been looked up 8757 times, loved by 60 people, added to 246 lists, commented on 18 times, and has a Scrabble score of 16.