turmoil

English

Etymology

Unknown. First recorded in 1520. Perhaps from Old French tremouille (“the hopper of a mill”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜːmɔɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

turmoil (usually uncountable, plural turmoils)

1. 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.

   • 2024 January 14, Charles Hugh Smith, Self-Reliance, Taoism and the Warring States‎^[1]:

     The Taoists developed their philosophy during an extended era of turmoil known as the Warring States period of Chinese history.

2. Harassing labour; trouble; disturbance.
   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:

     And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil, / A blessed soul doth in Elysium.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.

Synonyms

• chaos, disorder

Translations

a state of great disorder or uncertainty

• Arabic: مَعْمَعَة m (maʕmaʕa)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: смут (bg) m (smut), бъркотия (bg) f (bǎrkotija)
• Burmese: အရှုပ်အထွေး (my) (a.hrup-a.htwe:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騷亂／骚乱 (zh) (sāoluàn)

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: myllerrys (fi), sekasorto (fi), kaaos (fi)
• French: chaos (fr), désordre (fr) m, tourmente (fr) f, tumulte (fr) m
• Georgian: ქაოსი (ka) (kaosi), შფოთი (špoti), ალიაქოთი (aliakoti), ღელვა (ɣelva)
• German: Aufruhr (de) m, Tumult (de) m, Unruhe (de) f, Unordnung (de) f
• Greek: αναταραχή (el) f (anatarachí), οχλαγωγία (el) f (ochlagogía), σάλος (el) m (sálos), αναβρασμός (el) m (anavrasmós), ταραχή (el) f (tarachí)
• Irish: suaitheadh m
• Italian: caos (it), disordine (it), scompiglio (it)
• Japanese: 騒動 (ja), 混乱 (ja)
• Khmer: ចលាចល (km) (caʼlaacɑl)
• Latin: turba (la) f, tumultus m
• Maori: akaaka, hūkeri
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Ottoman Turkish: قارش (karış)
• Persian: هرج و مرج (fa) (harj-o-marj), آشوب (fa) (âšub)
• Portuguese: desordem (pt) m, tumulto (pt) m, caos (pt) m
• Romanian: haos (ro), desordine, incertitudine (ro), tumuly
• Russian: смяте́ние (ru) n (smjaténije), потрясе́ние (ru) n (potrjasénije), беспоря́док (ru) m (besporjádok), сумато́ха (ru) f (sumatóxa), ха́ос (ru) m (xáos), хао́с (ru) m (xaós), сму́та (ru) f (smúta), бардак (ru) m (bardak)
• Spanish: desorden (es) m, turbulencia (es) f, dificultad (es) f, tumulto (es) m
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: sự náo động

Verb

turmoil (third-person singular simple present turmoils, present participle turmoiling, simple past and past participle turmoiled)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To be disquieted or confused; to be in commotion.
   • 1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC:

     some notable sophister lies sweating and turmoiling under the inevitable and merciless delimmas of Socrates

2. (obsolete, transitive) To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

     It is her fatal misfortune […] to be thus miserably tossed and turmoiled with these storms of affliction.

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.