Turmoil
noun, verb
noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A state of great disorder or uncertainty. uncountable, usually
"Oleg Blokhin's side lost the talismanic Andriy Shevchenko to the substitutes' bench because of a knee injury but still showed enough to put England through real turmoil in spells."
- 2 disturbance usually in protest wordnet
- 3 Harassing labor; trouble; disturbance. uncountable, usually
"And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil, / A blessed soul doth in Elysium."
- 4 violent agitation wordnet
- 5 a violent disturbance wordnet
Verb
- 1 To be disquieted or confused; to be in commotion. intransitive, obsolete
"some notable sophister lies sweating and turmoiling under the inevitable and merciless delimmas of Socrates"
- 2 To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry. obsolete, transitive
"It is her fatal misfortune […] to be thus miserably tossed and turmoiled with these storms of affliction."
Example
More examples"The dismissal of foreign minister Tanaka is symbolic of the continuing political turmoil."
Etymology
Unknown. First appears c. 1526. Perhaps from Old French tremouille (“the hopper of a mill”).