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turmoil

SayTUR-moyl/ˈtɝmɔɪl/UK/ˈtɜːmɔɪl/

Verbturmoils, turmoiling, turmoiled

4 meanings of turmoil

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  1. 1
    noununcountable
    A condition of great disorder, confusion, or uncertainty.

    The sudden resignation of the CEO threw the company into turmoil.

    Years of political turmoil had left the country's economy in ruins.

    Similarchaos, upheaval, disorder, confusion, tumult

    Oppositecalm, peace, order, stability

    Note

    Nobody knows for certain where the word comes from: it first turns up around 1526, and one guess links it to Old French tremouille, the hopper of a mill. It usually takes no article, so a country is in turmoil or is thrown into turmoil.

  2. 2
    hard worknoununcountable
    Wearying, harassing labor, or trouble and disturbance more generally.

    Forty years of turmoil at the loom, twelve hours a day, had left her hands stiff and sore.

    The turmoil of hauling stone up the quarry road wore the men down long before winter.

    Similartoil, drudgery, tumult, commotion

    Oppositepeace, quiet, calm

    Note

    Here the trouble is something endured, a wearying round of labor or noise that leaves one longing for rest: Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona promises rest “as after much turmoil, / A blessed soul doth in Elysium.” Where the state of disorder describes a situation, this describes what it costs the people in it.

  3. 3
    disturb (old)verbobsoletetransitive
    To harass someone with commotion, or to disquiet or worry them.
    Note

    Edmund Spenser's A View of the Present State of Ireland pairs it with tossed, “miserably tossed and turmoiled with these storms of affliction”, so the trouble is pictured as weather beating on its victim. Where his storms turmoiled someone, a modern writer's would throw them into turmoil.

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    disturb (old)verbobsoleteintransitive
    To feel upset or confused, or to be in a noisy, unsettled state.
    some notable sophister lies sweating and turmoiling under the inevitable and merciless delimmas of Socrates
    1642, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical
    Note

    In this use the troubled person is the subject and nothing follows: Milton's An Apology for Smectymnuus (1642) pictures a sophister who “lies sweating and turmoiling” under the dilemmas of Socrates. Present-day English keeps only the noun, so a mind is in turmoil rather than turmoiling.

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Origin

Of unknown origin, first appearing around 1526; perhaps from Old French tremouille ("the hopper of a mill").