Today's Word "obstreperous"
Published in Vocabulary
obstreperous \ub-STREP-uh-russ\ (adjective) - 1 : uncontrollably noisy 2 : stubbornly resistant to control : unruly
"Jared admitted that he had been an obstreperous teenager until he got his first summer job and learned some self-discipline."
The handy Latin preposition "ob," meaning "in the way," "against," or "toward," occurs as a prefix in many Latin and English words. "Obstreperous" comes from "ob-" plus "strepere," a verb meaning "to make a noise," so someone who is obstreperous is literally making noise to rebel against something, much like a protesting crowd or an unruly child. The word has been used in English since around the 17th century. "Strepere" has not played a role in the formation of any other notable English words, but "ob-" words abound; these include "obese," "obnoxious," "occasion," "offend," "omit," "oppress," and "oust."
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