turmoil
Americannoun
-
a state of great commotion, confusion, or disturbance; tumult; agitation; disquiet.
mental turmoil caused by difficult decisions.
- Synonyms:
- uproar, disorder, turbulence
-
Obsolete. hard labor; toil.
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See agitation.
Etymology
Origin of turmoil
First recorded in 1520–30; originally as verb: “to agitate”; etymology uncertain; perhaps tur(n) + moil
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing turmoil
List 1
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This Week in Words: October 13 – 20, 2018
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Franklin Roosevelt, "Four Freedoms" (1941)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s a chance to chill for the people of a nation — once among the richest in Latin America — that has endured more than a decade of economic meltdown, political turmoil and mass emigration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Everyone wants to point out recession indicators, but in a time of economic turmoil, felt most acutely by young people earning less money, every dollar counts.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
All the men -- whose identities AFP is protecting -- described the emotional turmoil the bar is causing, with fathers losing sleep over what to do to help their bright and frustrated daughters.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Some of the fund’s backers had grown frustrated before the recent turmoil and had warned Aschenbrenner about the risks of leverage, according to people familiar with the situation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Like Halley’s private life, the European world was in turmoil in the middle of the 1680s.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
