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mayhem

MAY-uhm/ˈmeɪəm/

4 meanings of mayhem

Practice

  1. 1
    chaosnoununcountable
    A situation with a lot of confusion, trouble or damage.

    When the power went out, it was total mayhem at school.

    Fans caused mayhem in the streets after the big win.

    Similarchaos, bedlam, disorder, confusion, shambles

    Oppositeorder, calm, peace

    Note
  2. 2
    noununcountable
    Violent harm or damage done to someone or something.

    A fox got into the henhouse last night and caused bloody mayhem among the hens.

    The movie is full of fights, blood and mayhem.

    Similarhavoc, destruction, carnage, violence

    Note
  3. 3
    crime (law)noununcountable
    Badly hurting someone so they lose the use of a body part they need to defend themselves.

    He was charged with mayhem after he crippled the other man's arm in a fight.

    The court found her guilty of mayhem for cutting off the guard's thumb.

    Similarmaiming, mutilation

    Note

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    badly injureverbarchaic
    To commit the crime of mayhem by badly hurting someone's body.

    The sailor was charged with mayheming a shipmate during a fight.

    the king shal punish him for mayheming of his subject
    1628, Edw[ard] Coke, The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England.Here, mayheming means badly hurting someone's body, a crime.
    Note

Practice

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Origin

From an old French word for injury or the loss of a limb. It first meant the crime of maiming someone, and later came to mean chaos.