Reference > American Heritage® > Dictionary
  rampageous rampart  
CONTENTS · INDEX · ILLUSTRATIONS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
   The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.
 
rampant
 
SYLLABICATION:ram·pant
PRONUNCIATION:  rmpnt
ADJECTIVE:1. Extending unchecked; unrestrained: a rampant growth of weeds in the neglected yard. 2. Occurring without restraint and frequently, widely, or menacingly; rife: a rampant epidemic; rampant corruption in city government. 3a. Rearing on the hind legs. b. Heraldry Rearing on the left hind leg with the forelegs elevated, the right above the left, and usually with the head in profile. 4. Architecture Springing from a support or an abutment that is higher at one side than at the other: a rampant arch.
ETYMOLOGY:Middle English rampaunt, from Old French rampant, present participle of ramper, to ramp. See ramp2.
OTHER FORMS:rampan·cy —NOUN
rampant·ly —ADVERB
 
 
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS · INDEX · ILLUSTRATIONS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
  rampageous rampart  
 
Google
Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore.
Welcome · Press · Advertising · Linking · Terms of Use · © 2008 Bartleby.com