mayhem

[mey-hem, mey-uhm]

noun

1. 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.

2. random or deliberate violence or damage.

3. a state of rowdy disorder.

   Antagonisms between the various factions at the meeting finally boiled over, and mayhem ensued.

mayhem

/ ˈmeɪhɛm /

noun

1. 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

2. any violent destruction or confusion

Word History and Origins

Origin of mayhem¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of mayhem¹

C15: from Anglo-French mahem injury, from Germanic; related to Icelandic meitha to hurt. See _maim

Example Sentences

The finish of Sunday’s Chicago Bears-Cincinnati Bengals game was total mayhem.

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Both clubs have set an impressively high bar for mayhem this season.

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But the Muschietti siblings add that they are also incorporating certain messages into the mayhem.

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He brushed off the threat of the slipstream from those behind on the long run to the first corner and dodged the mayhem that unfolded behind.

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It’s wonderfully sincere and, strangely, one of the few things about Bronstein’s film — an anxious, honest triumph about motherhood and mayhem — that feels pleasant to watch.

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Related Words

• anarchy 
• commotion 
• destruction 
• fracas 
• havoc 
• pandemonium 
• violence