mayhem
Americannoun
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Law. the crime of willfully inflicting a bodily injury on another so as to make the victim less capable of self-defense or, under modern statutes, so as to cripple or mutilate the victim.
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random or deliberate violence or damage.
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a state of rowdy disorder.
Antagonisms between the various factions at the meeting finally boiled over, and mayhem ensued.
noun
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law the wilful and unlawful infliction of injury upon a person, esp (formerly) the injuring or removing of a limb rendering him less capable of defending himself against attack
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any violent destruction or confusion
Etymology
Origin of mayhem
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English maheym, maim, from Anglo-French mahe(i)m, mahaim, from Germanic; akin to Middle High German meidem “gelding,” Old Norse meitha “to injure”; maim
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.
"The callous way in which you walked away from the mayhem was sickening to watch. You blamed a phantom driver."
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
It’s been pure mayhem in the financial markets.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026
The result has been pure mayhem in the financial markets.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026
Last Wednesday, TikTok creators, finding none of the mayhem they expected to see in Springfield, started suggesting that faith-based groups working with Haitian immigrants were misdirecting resources.
From Salon • Feb. 14, 2026
When two more hammers joined the mayhem, she came out of her incubation trance.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
