riot

/ˈɹaɪ.ət/

riot noun: a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by a large group of people, often involving violence or damage to property.

Noun

riot (countable and uncountable, plural riots)

A tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by a large group of people, often involving violence or damage to property.
- The protests began peacefully but turned into riots after several days.
(figuratively) A wide and unconstrained variety.
- In summer this flower garden is a riot of colour.
- The human world is contracting not only prospectively but to the backward-probing eye of culture-history. Nevertheless we are as yet far from able to reduce the riot of spoken languages to a small number of “stocks.”1921, Edward Sapir, chapter VII, in Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech
(colloquial, uncountable) A humorous or entertaining event or person.
- Check this out! We have to get this! I can't believe all this stuff! This is a total riot!1997, Daniel Clowes, “The First Time”, in Ghost World, Jonathan Cape, published 2000, →ISBN, page 34
- They call me "quiet girl", but I'm a riot2007, Jules De Martino, Katie White, “That's Not My Name”, performed by The Ting Tings
Wanton or unrestrained behavior or emotion.
- For when his head-ſtrong Riot hath no Curbe,c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
(obsolete) Excessive and expensive feasting; wild and loose festivity; revelry.
- the lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC

Verb

riot (third-person singular simple present riots, present participle rioting, simple past and past participle rioted)

(intransitive) To create or take part in a riot; to raise an uproar or sedition.
- The nuclear protesters rioted outside the military base.
(intransitive, obsolete) To act in an unrestrained or wanton manner; to indulge in excess of feasting, luxury, etc.
- Now he exact of all, wastes in delight, / Riots in pleasure, and neglects the law.1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson...
- Think of the insults, wrongs, and contumelies, / Ye bear from your proud lords—that your hard toil / Manures their fertile fields—you plow the earth, / You sow the corn, you reap the ripen'd harvest,— / They riot on the produce!— […]1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, page 21
(transitive) To cause to riot; to throw into a tumult.
(transitive) To annoy.

riot meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

riot in Hindi

tumultuous disturbance of public peace: दंगा daṅgā

riot in Tamil

tumultuous disturbance of public peace: கலவரம் kalavaram

riot in Urdu

riot, feud, outbreak: فساد fasād
riot, rebellion, treason, mutiny: ثورہ saurah

More languagesFewer languages

riot in Bengali: অকু oku
riot in Malayalam: ലഹള, ബഹളം, ഉച്ചത്തിലുള്ള ഉത്സാഹപ്രകടനം
riot in Kannada: ದೊಂಬಿ, ಡೊಂಬಿ, ಡೊಂಬು, ಡೊಂಬೆ
riot in Punjabi: ਦੰਗਾ
riot in Gujarati: રમખાણ ramkhāṇ
riot in Odia: ଦଙ୍ଗା
riot in Nepali: दङ्गा, दङ्गाप्रहार, दंगा गर्न
riot in Arabic: شَغَب šaḡab
riot in Malay: rusuhan
riot in Persian: آشوب âšub, شورش šureš
riot in Thai: การกบฏ gaan-gà-bòt
riot in Vietnamese: bạo loạn
riot in Myanmar: အဓိကရုဏ်း a.dhi.ka.run:

Examples of riot in a sentence

She really read him the riot act about his smoking habit.
When the favorite was scratched from the race, there was a riot at the betting windows.
The government called in the army to deal with the riots.

All 40 example sentences with riot

Synonyms of riot

6 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of riot

Forms of riot

Noun
plural	riots
Verb
third-person singular present	riots
present participle	rioting
past participle	rioted
past	rioted

Plural of riot: riots

Origin of riot

From Middle English riot (“debauched living, dissipation”), from Old French riote (“debate”), from rioter (“to quarrel”), perhaps related to riboter or from Latin rugio (“to roar”). Compare French riotte and Occitan riòta.

Words formed from riot

Phrases with riot

3 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with riot

1 more rhymesFewer rhymes

ryot

Questions about riot

What does riot mean?: Riot means a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by a large group of people, often involving violence or damage to property.
What is riot in Hindi?: Riot in Hindi is दंगा (daṅgā). See Riot meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is riot?: Riot can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce riot?: Riot is pronounced /ˈɹaɪ.ət/.
What is the plural of riot?: The plural of riot is riots.

Words near riot in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: riot (page history and authors); riot (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ثورہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); অকু (Bengali) (page history and authors); riot (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); riot (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); riot (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); riot (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); riot (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-AcpoKrane-riot.wav.

Cite this entry: “riot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/riot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.