pandemonium

pandemonium
noun

Synonyms of pandemonium
1
: a wild uproar (as because of anger or excitement in a crowd of people)
Pandemonium erupted in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.
The game is stopped on account of pandemonium: players and spectators are screaming and staggering around the court …
—Darcy Frey
also : a chaotic situation
It is obvious that pandemonium would exist at most uncontrolled airports if every pilot did not conscientiously follow the traffic pattern.
—Joseph W. Benkert
2
capitalized : the capital of Hell in Milton's Paradise Lost
3
capitalized : the infernal regions : HELL
the demons of Pandemonium



Did you know?
When John Milton needed a name for the gathering place of all demons for Paradise Lost, he turned to the classics as any sensible 17th-century writer would. Pand;monium, as the capital of Hell is known in the epic poem, combines the Greek prefix pan-, meaning “all,” with the Late Latin daemonium, meaning “evil spirit.” (Daemonium itself traces back to the far more innocuous Greek word da;m;n, meaning;“spirit” or “divine power.”) Over time, Pand;monium (or Pandemonium) came to designate all of hell and was used as well for earthbound dens of wickedness and sin. By the late-18th century, the word implied a place or state of confusion or uproar, and from there, it didn’t take long for pandemonium to become associated with states of utter disorder and wildness.


Synonyms
ado
alarums and excursions
ballyhoo
blather
bluster
bobbery
bother
bustle
clatter
clutter [chiefly dialect]
coil
commotion
corroboree [Australian]
disturbance
do [chiefly dialect]
foofaraw
fun
furor
furore
fuss
helter-skelter
hoo-ha
hoo-hah
hoopla
hubble-bubble
hubbub
hullabaloo
hurly
hurly-burly
hurricane
hurry
hurry-scurry
hurry-skurry
kerfuffle [chiefly British]
moil
pother
row
ruckus
ruction
rumpus
shindy
splore [Scottish]
squall
stew
stir
storm
to-do
tumult
turmoil
uproar
welter
whirl
williwaw
zoo

Examples of pandemonium in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Photos captured scenes of pandemonium, confusion and bloodshed.
—Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 7 Oct. 2023
Baggage claim was pandemonium — luggage strewn across the floor and carousels, a few employees frantically trying to process new claims.
—Mary C. Meyer, STAT, 1 Aug. 2023
The whole scene is vibrant, goofy pandemonium — these are toys fighting each other with toys!
—Ashley Lee, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2023