turmoil
Other forms: turmoils
Mashed potatoes flew in one direction, peas in another. Kids were standing on chairs. The principal was shouting, but no one listened. "Food fight!" the seniors cried. The cafeteria was in a state of turmoil.
Turmoil rhymes with boil — think of the way that boiling water moves, and you'll understand what turmoil looks like. It refers to confusion, chaos, violent disturbance. The economy can be in turmoil — the markets behaving erratically, people losing their jobs, and no one understanding why.
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a violent disturbancesynonyms: convulsion, upheavaltype of:commotion, disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hoo-hah, hurly burly, kerfuffle, to-doa disorderly outburst or tumult
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violent agitation
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disturbance usually in protestsynonyms: agitation, excitement, hullabaloo, upheavaltype of:disturbancethe act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion
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Vocabulary lists containing turmoil
Learn these essential words that you'll encounter in literature, textbooks, class discussions, and more.
News flash! We’ve rounded up the top words heard, read, debated and discussed in the news this week. Take a look back at the week that was, vocabulary style. What makes news is often a deviation from what is normal, and the greater the deviation, the more newsworthy the event. This week's words characterize something that's not quite right and the feelings and reactions that accompany such situations.
In January of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined the basic freedoms that, in his view, America represented. Almost a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR warned of the dangers from dictatorships and of the need for America to prepare to defend itself.