rampant

English

Alternative forms

• rampaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387); from Old French rampant, the past present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈræm.pənt/
• Rhymes: -æmpənt

Adjective

rampant (comparative more rampant, superlative most rampant)

1. (originally ) Rearing on both hind legs with the forelegs extended.
   • The Vienna riding school displays splendid rampant movement.
2. (heraldry) Rearing on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.
   • Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved

     little pieces of moustache on his upper lip, like a pair of minnows rampant

3. (architecture) Tilted, said of an arch with one side higher than the other.
4. Unrestrained or unchecked, usually in a negative manner.
   • Weeds are rampant in any neglected garden.
   • 2012 March 1, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87: 

     Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.

5. Rife, or occurring widely, frequently or menacingly.
   • There was rampant corruption in the city.

Derived terms

• rampantly

Related terms

• ramp
• rampage

Translations

rearing animal

• Dutch: steigerend (nl)
• Macedonian: буен (mk) (búen) m

• Russian: стоящий на задних лапах (ru) (stojáščij na zádnix lápax)

heraldry

• French: rampant (fr)
• Italian: rampante (it)

• Macedonian: буен (mk) (búen) m

architecture

• Dutch: hellend (nl)

unrestrained

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 猖獗 (cmn) (chāngjué), 繁茂 (cmn) (fánmào) (of plants)

• Dutch: ongebreideld (nl), ongecontroleerd (nl), woekerend (nl)
• Finnish: rehottava (fi)
• French: effréné (fr)
• German: zügellos (de)

• Greek: ασυγκράτητος (el) (asingrátitos) m
• Italian: sfrenato (it) m, sfrenata (it) f
• Japanese: (phrase) 手がつけられない (ja) (te ga tsukerarenai)
• Russian: неистовый (ru) (neístovyj), безудержный (ru) (bezúderžnyj), ярый (ru) (járyj), буйный (ru) (bújnyj)

rife and menacing

• Dutch: ongebreideld, uit de hand gelopen
• Greek: αχαλίνωτος (el) (schalinotos) m

• Russian: неистовый (ru) (neistovyj), угрожающий (ru) (ugrožájuščij)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Mandarin: 繁茂 (cmn)
• German: zügellos (de)

• Korean: 과격한 (ko)
• Spanish: desenfrenado (es)

External links

• rampant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• rampant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• rampant at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• mantrap

---

French

Verb

rampant

1. Present participle of ramper.

Adjective

rampant m (feminine rampante, masculine plural rampants, feminine plural rampantes)

1. rampant, said of an animal and in heraldry
2. tilted, in architecture
3. humbly inclined
4. in botany, extending over the ground rather then climbing upward
5. in literature, base and common
6. in the military, 'stranded' on the ground as opposed toflying staff