What is another word for bedlam?

Pronunciation: [bˈɛdlam] (IPA)

The word "bedlam" originated from the famous Bethlehem Hospital in London where the mentally ill were housed and sometimes mistreated. Today, it means a place or situation of chaos and confusion. There are several synonyms for "bedlam" including pandemonium, mayhem, uproar, tumult, turmoil, commotion, and chaos. These words all describe a state of disorder and confusion. "Pandemonium" comes from Milton's "Paradise Lost" and means a place of all demons in Hell. "Mayhem" is from the French word for mangling, which describes a violent and chaotic scene. "Uproar," "tumult," and "turmoil" describe a situation where there is a lot of noise and confusion, while "commotion" suggests a noisy disturbance caused by a group of people.

Synonyms for Bedlam:

What are the hypernyms for Bedlam?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.
  • hypernyms for bedlam (as nouns)

What are the hyponyms for Bedlam?

Hyponyms are more specific words categorized under a broader term, known as a hypernym.
  • hyponyms for bedlam (as nouns)

What are the opposite words for bedlam?

Bedlam is a term that signifies a state of chaos or madness. Its antonyms would therefore convey the opposite idea of calmness, control, and order. Some possible antonyms for bedlam include serenity, composure, tranquility, peace, and harmony. These words denote a state of mental or emotional stability, as well as a sense of serenity and relaxation. Opposite to bedlam, they connote a world that is free from confusion, noise, and disarray. Examples of antonyms for bedlam in a sentence could be "Despite the chaos outside, inside the meditation room, there is only serenity," or "The park was a haven of tranquility, a welcome escape from the bedlam of the city.

What are the antonyms for Bedlam?

Usage examples for Bedlam

The little wanderers grouped about the fire, while their ears were assailed by the loud cries and shrieks of monkeys who in the adjacent forest created a veritable bedlam.
"In Desert and Wilderness"
Henryk Sienkiewicz
The old engine was rushed furiously across the meadow and into the lot, in the midst of a shrill bedlam of excited cries, most of them conveying directions and suggestions entirely futile.
"The Man from Jericho"
Edwin Carlile Litsey
We left in a bedlam, Mr. Claybourne's face looking rather solemnly at us, Mrs. Claybourne, quite overcome, on Miss Hershey's shoulder, and Knowlton's grin frozen half way.
"I Walked in Arden"
Jack Crawford

Famous quotes with Bedlam

  • I can understand the ignorant masses loving to soak themselves in drink—oh, yes, it's very shocking that they should, of course—very shocking to us who live in cozy homes, with all the graces and pleasures of life around us, that the dwellers in damp cellars and windy attics should creep from their dens of misery into the warmth and glare of the public-house bar, and seek to float for a brief space away from their dull world upon a Lethe stream of gin. But think, before you hold up your hands in horror at their ill-living, what "life" for these wretched creatures really means. Picture the squalid misery of their brutish existence, dragged on from year to year in the narrow, noisome room where, huddled like vermin in sewers, they welter, and sicken, and sleep; where dirt-grimed children scream and fight and sluttish, shrill-voiced women cuff, and curse, and nag; where the street outside teems with roaring filth and the house around is a bedlam of riot and stench. Think what a sapless stick this fair flower of life must be to them, devoid of mind and soul. The horse in his stall scents the sweet hay and munches the ripe corn contentedly. The watch-dog in his kennel blinks at the grateful sun, dreams of a glorious chase over the dewy fields, and wakes with a yelp of gladness to greet a caressing hand. But the clod-like life of these human logs never knows one ray of light. From the hour when they crawl from their comfortless bed to the hour when they lounge back into it again they never live one moment of real life. Recreation, amusement, companionship, they know not the meaning of. Joy, sorrow, laughter, tears, love, friendship, longing, despair, are idle words to them. From the day when their baby eyes first look out upon their sordid world to the day when, with an oath, they close them forever and their bones are shoveled out of sight, they never warm to one touch of human sympathy, never thrill to a single thought, never start to a single hope. In the name of the God of mercy; let them pour the maddening liquor down their throats and feel for one brief moment that they live!
    Jerome K. Jerome

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