rioter

English

Alternative forms

• riotor (now rare)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English riotour, from Old French rioteor; equivalent to riot +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪətə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪətɚ/

Noun

rioter (plural rioters)

1. One who riots; part of the unruly violent crowd causing a riot.

   The rioters had erected a makeshift barricade and were pelting the police with rocks from behind it.

   • 2015 April 28, Ben Brumfield, “Baltimore riots: A few people tried to stop the unrest”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 13 August 2025:

     The rioters overshadowed the message of peaceful protesters on prior days: They had called for justice for Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died from spinal injuries after police arrested him this month.

   • 2025 January 24, Katelyn Polantz, Holmes Lybrand, “Exclusive: January 6 rioter freed after Trump’s pardon — but authorities say he should still be in jail”, in CNN‎^[2], archived from the original on 12 February 2025:

     High-profile January 6 rioter Guy Reffitt showed up in Washington, DC, on Wednesday to celebrate with his wife and supporters who’d been hoping for his release from federal detention for months.

Derived terms

• nonrioter

Translations

one who riots

• Azerbaijani: iğtişaşçı
• Belarusian: бунтаўнік m (buntawnik), бунтаўшчык m (buntawščyk), пагромшчык m (pahrómščyk)
• Bulgarian: размирник (bg) m (razmirnik)
• Catalan: amotinat (ca) m, amotinada (ca) f
• Dutch: relschopper (nl) m, oproermaker (nl) m
• Finnish: mellakoitsija (fi), mellakoija (fi)
• French: émeutier (fr) m, émeutière (fr) f
• German: Randalierer (de) m, Randaliererin (de) f, Aufrührer (de) m, Aufrührerin (de) f
• Irish: círéibeoir m
• Korean: 폭도(暴徒) (ko) (pokdo)
• Middle English: riotour
• Polish: buntownik (pl) m, buntowniczka f
• Portuguese: baderneiro m, baderneira f
• Russian: бунтовщи́к (ru) m (buntovščík), повста́нец (ru) m (povstánec), мяте́жник (ru) m (mjatéžnik), бунта́рь (ru) m (buntárʹ)
• Swedish: upploppsmakare c
• Turkish: gösterici; isyancı; ayaklanmacı
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: terfysgwr (cy) m

Anagrams

• Terrio

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

rioter

1. to half-laugh; to snigger

Conjugation

Conjugation of rioter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rioter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	riotant /ʁjɔ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		rioté /ʁjɔ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	riote /ʁjɔt/	riotes /ʁjɔt/	riote /ʁjɔt/	riotons /ʁjɔ.tɔ̃/	riotez /ʁjɔ.te/	riotent /ʁjɔt/
	imperfect	riotais /ʁjɔ.tɛ/	riotais /ʁjɔ.tɛ/	riotait /ʁjɔ.tɛ/	riotions /ʁjɔ.tjɔ̃/	riotiez /ʁjɔ.tje/	riotaient /ʁjɔ.tɛ/
	past historic2	riotai /ʁjɔ.te/	riotas /ʁjɔ.ta/	riota /ʁjɔ.ta/	riotâmes /ʁjɔ.tam/	riotâtes /ʁjɔ.tat/	riotèrent /ʁjɔ.tɛʁ/
	future	rioterai /ʁjɔ.tʁe/	rioteras /ʁjɔ.tʁa/	riotera /ʁjɔ.tʁa/	rioterons /ʁjɔ.tʁɔ̃/	rioterez /ʁjɔ.tʁe/	rioteront /ʁjɔ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	rioterais /ʁjɔ.tʁɛ/	rioterais /ʁjɔ.tʁɛ/	rioterait /ʁjɔ.tʁɛ/	rioterions /ʁjɔ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	rioteriez /ʁjɔ.tə.ʁje/	rioteraient /ʁjɔ.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	riote /ʁjɔt/	riotes /ʁjɔt/	riote /ʁjɔt/	riotions /ʁjɔ.tjɔ̃/	riotiez /ʁjɔ.tje/	riotent /ʁjɔt/
	imperfect2	riotasse /ʁjɔ.tas/	riotasses /ʁjɔ.tas/	riotât /ʁjɔ.ta/	riotassions /ʁjɔ.ta.sjɔ̃/	riotassiez /ʁjɔ.ta.sje/	riotassent /ʁjɔ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	riote /ʁjɔt/	—	riotons /ʁjɔ.tɔ̃/	riotez /ʁjɔ.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “rioter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle English

Noun

rioter

1. (Late Middle English) alternative form of riotour