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
Related Words
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.
“We get turmoil, we get equity markets pulling back significantly, we get rates reduced significantly as a result.”
From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026
Political turmoil and the prospect of a leadership challenge risk unsettling investors and raising U.K. government borrowing costs.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
Britain's economy expanded in the first quarter, official data showed Thursday, offering a boost to embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the Mideast crisis and political turmoil cloud the outlook.
From Barron's • May 14, 2026
UK political turmoil is not receiving much attention in Russian media, but "Starmer's doomsday" is a headline on Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
From BBC • May 12, 2026
Now, as he felt weighed down by his failure to keep the Rad Lab above the turmoil of the Oppenheimer case, illness began to get the better of him.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
