Word of the Day: Public life is often punctuated by dissent. Yet when disagreement escalates into noisy disruption, the tone shifts. The English language offers a precise word for such loud and unruly ...

I'll start with a warning: We are all obstreperous at one time or another. Accept that this could apply to you, and read on. The first time I thought to write about the obstreperous behavior of ...

The term obstreperous derives from obstreperus, a Latin word meaning either “noisy” or “clamorous.” This is a word that is rooted in obstrepere, an expression signifying “to make a noise” or “to ...