mayhem
Plural: mayhems
Noun
- Violent disorder or chaos; willful maiming of a person.
- the willful and unlawful crippling or mutilation of another person
- violent and needless disturbance
- A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.
- Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing.
- The maiming of a person by depriving them of the use of any of their limbs which are necessary for defense or protection.
- The crime of damaging things or harming people on purpose.
Verb
- To commit mayhem.
Examples
- His wild Scrabble play caused mayhem on the board, opening up many premium squares.
- In all the mayhem, some children were separated from their parents.
- The fighting dogs created mayhem in the flower beds.
- to cause mayhem
- to commit mayhem
- What if the legendary hero Robin Hood had been born into the mayhem of the 20th century?
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English mayme, mahaime, from Anglo-Norman mahaim (“mutilation”), from Old French meshaing (“bodily harm, loss of limb”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to cripple, injure”) (compare Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”), Old Norse meiða (“to injure”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to change”). More at mad. The original meaning referred to the crime of maiming; the other senses derived from this.
Another possible etymology derives the Old French from Provençal maganhar, composed of mal (“evil”) and ganhar (“to obtain, receive”) (compare with Spanish ganar and Italian gavagnare and guadagnare), so literally "to obtain, receive something evil".
The sense "chaos" may have arisen by popular misunderstanding of the common journalese expression "rioting and mayhem".
Synonyms
havoc, ado, argy-bargy, bangarang, bedlam, bobbery, brouhaha, bunfight, bust-up, bustle, car crash, chaos, clamour, clatter, commotion, confusion, disarray, disorder, disorganization, disruption, disturbance, dog's breakfast, dog's dinner, flap, foofaraw, fracas, free-for-all, fuddle, furor, fuss, hash, hobbleshaw, hoo-ha, hoo-hah, hot mess, hubbub, hullabaloo, hurly-burly, imbroglio, kerfuffle, mash, mayhem, maze, merry hell, mess, misorder, mommick, muddle, mullock, muss, outcry, palaver, pandemonium, pother, quarrel, riot, rowdydow, ruckus, rumpus, shambles, shemozzle, shindy, snarl, splatterdash, stir, stooshie, tangle, three-ring circus, to-do, tomfoolery, topsy-turviness, trouble, tumult, turmoil, unrest, upfuckery, uproar, upstir
Scrabble Score: 16
mayhem: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordmayhem: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
mayhem: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary