Meanings
- Having the characteristics of a riot.
- Causing, inciting or taking part in a riot.
The prison administrators are always planting seeds of hate, division, separatism, and prison peer group racism in the various ethnic groups here, causing friction and riotous situations where one group is set against another.
1982 April 10, Roosevelt Williamson, “Prison Racism and Legal Slavery in America”, in Gay Community News, page 15 - Unrestrained and boisterous; degenerate or dissolute.
Open carriages tend to be draughty and inadequately heated. The passenger in them has no escape from the annoyance of squalling babies, boisterous drunks, and riotous teddy-boys, who may be at the far end of the coach but whose din cannot be shut out.
1959 February 28, “Letters to the Editor: Open-Type Coaches on B.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 135
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecharacterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination
adjectiveunrestrained by convention or morality
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Anglo-Normanriotous
- Middle Englishriotous
- Englishriotous
Inherited from Middle English riotous, from Anglo-Norman riotous; equivalent to riot + -ous.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish buntowniczy, rozjuszony
- buntowniczyhaving the characteristics of a riot
- rozjuszonyhaving the characteristics of a riot
- wzburzonyhaving the characteristics of a riot
Cite this entry
riotous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riotous
“riotous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riotous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “riotous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riotous.
Source: riotous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.