TURMOIL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does turmoil mean? 

• TURMOIL (noun)
  The noun TURMOIL has 3 senses:

1. a violent disturbance

2. violent agitation

3. disturbance usually in protest

  Familiarity information: TURMOIL used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TURMOIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A violent disturbance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

convulsion; turmoil; upheaval

Context example:

the convulsions of the stock market

Hypernyms ("turmoil" is a kind of...):

commotion; disruption; disturbance; flutter; hoo-ha; hoo-hah; hurly burly; kerfuffle; to-do (a disorderly outburst or tumult)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Violent agitation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

tumult; turmoil

Hypernyms ("turmoil" is a kind of...):

agitation (the feeling of being agitated; not calm)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Disturbance usually in protest

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

agitation; excitement; hullabaloo; turmoil; upheaval

Hypernyms ("turmoil" is a kind of...):

disturbance (the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion)

 Context examples 

Dark and murky was it all, but hope mounts high in youth, and it ever fluttered over all the turmoil of his thoughts like a white plume amid the shock of horsemen.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The turmoil within my brain was such that something must surely snap.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My internal being was in a state of insurrection and turmoil; I felt that order would thence arise, but I had no power to produce it.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It was now so dark that there was no sign of the boat; but Wolf Larsen held back through the frightful turmoil as if guided by unerring instinct.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He read until three in the morning, and his brain was in a turmoil, but not one essential thought in the text had he grasped.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He said he expects no political turmoil between the neighboring Austria and Hungary over the sale.

(Hungarian state-owned enterprise acquires Hirtenberger Defence Group, Wikinews)

There was a turmoil in the audience—someone screamed, two ladies in the front row fell senseless from their chairs, and there was a general movement upon the platform to follow their chairman into the orchestra.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At the sound soldiers came rushing from their tents, knights shouted loudly for their squires, and there was mad turmoil on every hand of bewildered men and plunging horses.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I, too, was afraid, and what of my discovery of how much she meant to me my mind was in a turmoil; but, I succeeded in answering quite calmly: All will come right, Miss Brewster. Trust me, it will come right.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The mad turmoil, the mixture of races, and the fading light, were all in favor of the four who alone knew their own purpose among the vast uncertain multitude.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)