boisterous
Noisy, lively and full of rough energy.
- The boisterous puppies knocked over two chairs and a plant before breakfast.
- The boisterous crowd at the funfair laughed, sang and jostled around every stall.
Similar: noisy, rowdy, wild
boisterous or rowdy?
Boisterous is usually high spirits. Rowdy is when the noise has turned into trouble.
Both words describe loud, energetic behaviour, so children use them as if they were the same. The difference is usually whether anyone needs to step in.
Boisterous tends to have a smile in it. A boisterous puppy bounding round the garden, or a boisterous game of tag at a birthday party, is noisy and a bit rough, but it is fun and nobody is in trouble.
Rowdy usually means the energy has spilled over into disorder. A rowdy group on the train, shouting and pushing until the guard has to ask them to calm down, is not just lively: they are causing a problem for everyone else.
Both words, side by side
rowdy
Noisy and behaving in a rough, wild way.
- The rowdy fans banged drums and chanted until the referee covered his ears.
- Next door's party grew so rowdy with shouting and stamping that our windows rattled.
Similar: noisy, loud, wild
Why it costs marks
Questions about how the writer wants you to see a scene depend on this. Boisterous usually suggests fun, while rowdy usually suggests disapproval. Reading one as the other can flip the meaning of the whole paragraph.
Definitions and example sentences on this page are the ones a child sees inside Wordrealm, taken from our list of over 1,100 words. It is free to browse, with nothing to sign up for.
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test