tumult
Other forms: tumults
If a principal steps into a classroom and is greeted by a tumult of voices, with the teacher shouting for his kids' attention, she will not be pleased. A tumult is a state of noisy confusion.
Very often a crowd of people will cause a tumult. But your mind can also be in tumult, when you're confused and overwhelmed by strong emotions. If you want an adjective to describe these types of bewildering situations, use tumultuous. Tumult is from the Latin tumultus, "an uproar," which is related to the Latin verb tumēre, "to be excited."
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a state of commotion and noise and confusion
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synonyms:
garboil, tumultuousness, uproar, zoo
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types:
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combustion
a state of violent disturbance and excitement
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type of:
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commotion, disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hoo-hah, hurly burly, kerfuffle, to-do
a disorderly outburst or tumult
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combustion
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violent agitation
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the act of making a noisy disturbance
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Vocabulary lists containing tumult
In this unflinching memoir, Elie Wiesel describes his experience as a young man imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.
On Christmas Eve, cruel penny-pincher Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three spirits who show him visions of his past, present, and future. Read the full text here.
After defying her uncle, the king of Thebes, Antigone is sentenced to death. This classical tragedy, translated from the Greek by Francis Storr, explores the tension between duty and family. Here is a link to our list for Oedipus the King by Sophocles.