Adjacent Words

Turmoil definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TURMOIL', n. [I know not the origin of this word; but it is probably from the root of the L. turba,turbo, turma, or of turn.]
Disturbance, tumult; harassing labor; trouble; molestation by tumult.
There I'll rest, as after much turmoil
A blessed soul doth in Elysium.
TURMOIL', v.t. To harass with commotion.
It is her fatal misfortune--to be miserably tossed and turmoiled with these storms of affliction.
1. To disquiet; to weary.
TURMOIL', v.i. To be disquieted; to be in commotion.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a violent disturbance; "the convulsions of the stock market" [syn: convulsion, turmoil, upheaval]
2: violent agitation [syn: tumult, turmoil]
3: disturbance usually in protest [syn: agitation, excitement, turmoil, upheaval, hullabaloo]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1526 a state or condition of extreme confusion, agitation, or commotion

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 violent confusion; agitation. 2 din and bustle. Etymology: 16th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Turmoil Tur"moil, n. [Of uncertain origin; perhaps fr. OF. tremouille the hopper of a mill, trembler to tremble (cf. E. tremble); influenced by E. turn and moil.] Harassing labor; trouble; molestation by tumult; disturbance; worrying confusion. And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil, A blessed soul doth in Elysium. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Turmoil Tur*moil", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Turmoiled; p. pr. & vb. n. Turmoiling.] To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry. [Obs.] It is her fatal misfortune . . . to be miserably tossed and turmoiled with these storms of affliction. --Spenser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Turmoil Tur*moil", v. i. To be disquieted or confused; to be in commotion. [Obs.] --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(turmoils) Turmoil is a state of confusion, disorder, uncertainty, or great anxiety. ...the political turmoil of 1989... Her marriage was in turmoil... N-VAR: usu with supp, oft in N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Tumult, agitation, disturbance, disorder, turbulence, confusion, commotion, uproar, bustle, huddle, hurly-burly, trouble, harassing labor.

Moby Thesaurus

ado, agitation, ailment, anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarchy, antinomianism, anxiety, anxiousness, arsy-varsiness, bluster, bobbery, boil, boiling, bother, brawl, broil, brouhaha, bustle, cacophony, chaos, churn, clamor, clutter, commotion, confusion, conturbation, criminal syndicalism, discomposure, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization, disquiet, disquietude, disruption, distress, disturbance, dither, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, dustup, ebullience, ebullition, eddy, effervescence, embroilment, excitement, fanaticism, farrago, feery-fary, ferment, fermentation, fever, feverishness, fidgets, flap, flurry, fluster, flutteration, foment, fomentation, foofaraw, fracas, free-for-all, frenzy, fume, furor, furore, fury, fuss, hash, hassle, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hodgepodge, hubbub, hurly-burly, hurry, hurry-scurry, hysteron proteron, inquietude, jitteriness, jitters, jumble, jumpiness, lather, litter, lynch law, maelstrom, malaise, melee, mess, mishmash, misrule, mob law, mob rule, mobocracy, moil, nerviness, nervosity, nervousness, nihilism, ochlocracy, pandemonium, passion, pell-mell, perturbation, pother, primal chaos, racket, rage, rampage, rebellion, restiveness, restlessness, revolution, riot, roil, rough-and-tumble, roughhouse, rout, row, ruckus, ruction, ruffle, rumpus, scramble, seethe, seething, shindy, stew, stir, storminess, strife, swirl, swirling, syndicalism, tempestuousness, to-do, tohubohu, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, trepidation, trepidity, trouble, tumble, tumult, tumultuation, tumultuousness, turbidity, turbulence, twitter, unease, uneasiness, unholy mess, unrest, unruliness, uproar, upset, vortex, welter, whirl, wildness, yeastiness, zeal, zealousness