Dictionary

obstreperous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɒbˈstɹɛp.əɹ.əs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /əbˈstɹɛp.əɹ.əs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɑːbˈstɹɛpəɹəs/ (US)
• (US) audio
• /əbˈstɹɛpəɹəs/ (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁óp(i) Proto-Italic *op Latin ob Latin ob- Latin strepō Latin obstrepō Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Italic *-os Archaic Latin -os Latin -us Latin obstreperusbor. English obstreperous Borrowed from Latin obstreperus, first attested circa 17th c. Compare obstropulous.

Meanings

1. Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous.
   • This disposition his subsequent life had not tended to change in any considerable degree, though increased knowledge, with much observation, and a little reading, had rendered the gaiety of the young man a very different thing to the obstreperous mirth of the boy. 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 277:
   • […] my hope Dwindled into a ghost not fit to cope With that obstreperous joy success would bring 1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came:
   • The train was soon filled to the brim with obstreperous American tourists brandishing Pina Coladas from the upper deck, and started to resemble a smallish dry-land cruise ship. 2026 March 18, Vitali Vitaliev, “Small is beautiful... Pt 3”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 68:
   • He developed an obstreperous baritone—it was the same voice, now more specifically in action, that I had first heard on the devastated prairie; and he made himself rather preponderant, whether he happened to know the song or not. 1918, Henry B[lake] Fuller, On the Stairs, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Hougton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →OCLC, part II, section III, page 57:
   • [O]n a clear still summer evening you may hear from the battery of New York the obstreperous peals of broad-mouthed laughter of the Dutch negroes at Communipaw. 1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], chapter VII, in A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC:
2. Stubbornly defiant; disobedient; resistant to authority or control (whether in a noisy manner or not).
   • My dress was draggled, my hat had slipped back, and the kinks and curls of my obstreperous hair were something awful. 1903, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “A Sandshore Wooing”, in Short Stories: 1902-1903:
   • They reviled the committee collectively and singly; bragged that they would shoot Coleman, Truett, Durkee, and some others at sight; flourished weapons, and otherwise became so publicly and noisily obstreperous that the committee decided they needed a lesson. 1915, Stewart Edward White, “chapter 70”, in The Gray Dawn:
   • [W]e came to Whittingham. Thence to Newcastle, where an obstreperous horse retarded us for an hour at least. October 1827, Sir Walter Scott, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott:
   • This is what your boyfriend did, honey. When he was in one of his more obstreperous moods. 2015, 3 min from the start, in Penny Dreadful, season 2, episode 9:
   • Now [Judah] becomes their surrogate in being subject to a bizarre but peculiarly fitting principle of retaliation, taken in by a piece of attire, as his father was, learning through his own obstreperous flesh that the divinely appointed process of election cannot be thwarted by human will or social convention. 1981, Robert Alter, “A Literary Approach to the Bible”, in The Art of Biblical Narrative, page 10:
   • He said he loved making movies like Luca Guadagnino’s “A Bigger Splash,” in which his charismatic, obstreperous character, Harry Hawkes, a music producer described by the Italian director as “a pagan fawn,” does a Dionysian dance to the Rolling Stones song “Emotional Rescue.” 2022 October 22, Maureen Dowd, “Ralph Fiennes, Master of Monsters”, in The New York Times:

Forms

Deriveds

stroppy · obstreperosity · obstreperousness · obstreperously · unobstreperous

Synonyms

uncompromising · bloody-minded · truculent · bullheaded · diehard · tenacious · refractory · hard-nosed · peremptory · peevish · determined · hard-hearted · stubborn as a mule · thran · recalcitrant · stalwart · inflexible · obstinate · terminal · irrefragable · noisy · confirmed · bent on · willful · dogged · persistent · untiring · incalcitrant · loud · unbending · insistent · intrepid · rigid · thwart · recalcitrant · vociferous · vehement · pigheaded · obdurate · sullen · resolute · ardent · obstreperous · staunch · clamorous · uncooperative · pertinacious · tough · steady · certain · mulish · self-willed · intransigent · steadfast · hardheaded · adamant · unruly · chronic · stubborn · unyielding · inveterate · resolved · headstrong · immovable · wilful · grim · intractable

Translations (38)

de ungestüm (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · cmn 桀驁不馴 /桀骜不驯 (stubbornly defiant) · fi niskoitteleva (stubbornly defiant) · pl niesforny (stubbornly defiant) · ar صاخب (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · uk галасливий (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · bg шумен (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · es estrepitoso (stubbornly defiant) · pl hałaśliwy (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · de tumultartig (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · cmn 吵鬧的 /吵闹的 (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · uk шумний (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · pt recalcitrante (stubbornly defiant) · de widerborstig (stubbornly defiant) · de ungebärdig (stubbornly defiant) · de polternd (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · ar مُشَاكِس (stubbornly defiant) · de renitent (stubbornly defiant) · pl zaczepny (stubbornly defiant) · de widerspenstig (stubbornly defiant) · pl hałaśliwy (stubbornly defiant) · fr récalcitrant (stubbornly defiant) · nl luidruchtig (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · fi uhmakas (stubbornly defiant) · bg буен (stubbornly defiant) · fi rettelöivä (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · sv oregerlig (stubbornly defiant) · de polterhaft (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · fi meluisa (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · pt espalhafatoso (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · cmn 頑抗的 /顽抗的 (stubbornly defiant) · cmn 喧鬧的 (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · de aufmüpfig (stubbornly defiant) · nl weerbarstig (stubbornly defiant) · bg необуздан (stubbornly defiant) · de aufsässig (stubbornly defiant) · de dröhnend (attended by, or making a loud and tumultuous noise) · fi kuriton (stubbornly defiant)