turmoil means A state of great disorder or uncertainty.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, turmoil ranks #2,340 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,558 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,220 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words.
turmoil is pronounced /ˈtɜːmɔɪl/.
Why “turmoil” is a great word
A state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty. Of unknown origin, first appearing circa 1526. Perhaps from Old French tremouille (“the hopper of a mill”), suggesting a mechanism in agitated motion. Unlike 'chaos,' which implies a final, formless void, or 'unrest,' which denotes organized social agitation, turmoil is the agitated interim, the storm of conflicting currents. It is the churning of a mind before a decision, the frantic shuffling of papers on a desk in a crisis, the roiling surface of a pot just before the boil. It is the knowledge that order exists somewhere, if only one could stop shaking long enough to find it.
Etymology
Unknown. First appears c. 1526. Perhaps from Old French tremouille (“the hopper of a mill”).
noun
- A state of great disorder or uncertainty.“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 labor; trouble; disturbance.“And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil, / A blessed soul doth in Elysium.”
verb
- To be disquieted or confused; to be in commotion.“some notable sophister lies sweating and turmoiling under the inevitable and merciless delimmas of Socrates”
- To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.“It is her fatal misfortune […] to be thus miserably tossed and turmoiled with these storms of affliction.”
Words closest in meaning
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