turmoil
English
Etymology
Unknown origin. Perhaps from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French tremouille (“the hopper of a mill”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /ˈtɜːmɔɪl/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
turmoil (usually uncountable, plural turmoils)
- A state of great disorder or uncertainty.
- 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
- 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.
- Harassing labour; trouble; disturbance.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil, / A blessed soul doth in Elysium.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Synonyms
Translations
a state of great disorder or uncertainty
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Verb
turmoil (third-person singular simple present turmoils, present participle turmoiling, simple past and past participle turmoiled)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be disquieted or confused; to be in commotion.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
- (obsolete, transitive) To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
- (Can we date this quote by Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- It is her fatal misfortune […] to be miserably tossed and turmoiled with these storms of affliction.
- (Can we date this quote by Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Further reading
- “turmoil”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “turmoil”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “turmoil”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “turmoil”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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