ado
[ uh-doo ]
/ əˈdu /
noun
busy activity; bustle; fuss.
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Nearby words
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- adobe flat,
- adobo,
- adolescence
Origin of ado
1250–1300; Middle English (north) at do, a phrase equivalent to at to (< Old Norse, which used at with the infinitive) + do do1
SYNONYMS FOR ado
Synonym study
Ado, to-do, commotion, stir, tumult suggest a great deal of fuss and noise. Ado implies a confused bustle of activity, a considerable emotional upset, and a great deal of talking: Much Ado About Nothing. To-do, now more commonly used, may mean merely excitement and noise and may be pleasant or unpleasant: a great to-do over a movie star. Commotion suggests a noisy confusion and babble: commotion at the scene of an accident. Stir suggests excitement and noise, with a hint of emotional cause: The report was followed by a tremendous stir in the city. Tumult suggests disorder with noise and violence: a tumult as the mob stormed the Bastille.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for ado
ado
/ (əˈduː) /
noun
bustling activity; fuss; bother; delay (esp in the phrases without more ado, with much ado)
Word Origin for ado
C14: from the phrase at do a to-do, from Old Norse at to (marking the infinitive) + do 1
ADO
/ Australian /
abbreviation for
accumulated day off
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
ado
late 14c., "conflict, fighting; difficulty, trouble," compounded from at do, dialectal in Norse influenced areas of England for to do, as some Scandinavian languages used at with infinitive of a verb where Modern English uses to. For sense development, cf. to-do. Meaning "fuss" is from early 15c. Also used in Middle English for "dealings, traffic," and "sexual intercourse" (both c.1400).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper