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”; see maim
Explanation
Mayhem is a violent and rowdy disturbance, like what you might experience at an overcrowded rock concert or a day-after-Thanksgiving sale. You may encounter several types of disturbances in your life, but mayhem is typically used for disturbances involving crowds. The word mayhem comes to us not from Latin, as many English words do, but from Anglo-French, a dialect of French that developed in England several centuries ago. We’re guessing those Anglo-French speakers had a reputation for being a pretty rowdy bunch.
Vocabulary lists containing mayhem
Speak
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Mayhem! Chaos! Pandemonium!
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "M"
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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.
Switching the setting of “Carrie” from suburban Boston to down-home Maine might have helped convince readers that the novel’s mayhem “could happen in any high school across the country.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
There’s one enjoyably oddball visual when Passenger Man disrupts a cozy projector-and-canopy movie night in the forest and suddenly the faces of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn are on trees everywhere as mayhem ensues.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
Ultimately, Rucho is the cause of much of the mayhem we see today.
From Slate • Apr. 29, 2026
More experienced managers than relative rookie Rosenior have struggled to survive the mayhem and unique pressures that life at Chelsea inflicts.
From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026
Would her instruction to think of the chickens as baby dodos be enough to prevent mayhem?
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
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.
