pandemonium

pandemonium

See also: pandémonium, pandemònium, and pandemónium

English

WOTD – 25 August 2007

Alternative forms

• pandaemonium, pandæmonium

Etymology

Coined by John Milton in "Paradise Lost", Pandæmonium, from Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân, “all”) (equivalent to English pan-) + Late Latin daemonium (“evil spirit, demon”), from Ancient Greek δαίμόινον (daímóinon, “deity”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌpændɪˈməʊnɪəm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌpændɪˈmoʊni.əm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊniəm

Noun

pandemonium (countable and uncountable, plural pandemoniums or pandemonia)

1. A loud, wild, tumultuous protest, disorder, or chaotic situation, usually of a crowd, often violent.
   • 2004, Boston Globe, October 22

     Whenever you have violent pandemonium, there's the overwhelming possibility for panic and tragedy.

2. An outburst; loud, riotous uproar, especially of a crowd.
   • 2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian‎:

     Riyad Mahrez flighted the free-kick that followed to the far post and Morgan, with not much finesse but plenty of desire, bundled the ball over the line. Cue pandemonium in the stands.

Synonyms

• (tumultuous protest or disorder): chaos, bedlam
• (an outburst): outburst, uproar

Derived terms

• pandemonium architecture
• pandemonium effect

Related terms

• pandemoniac
• pandemoniacal
• pandemonian
• pandemonic
• pandemonious

Descendants

• → Catalan: pandemònium, pandemoni

Translations

chaos; tumultuous protest or disorder

Bulgarian: хаос (bg) m (haos) Cebuano: kasibaw Dutch: pandemonium (nl) n, heksenketel (nl) m Finnish: sekasorto (fi), kaaos (fi) French: chaos (fr) m Galician: pandemonio (gl) m German: Tohuwabohu (de) n, Tumult (de) m, Anarchie (de) f, Hexensabbat (de) m (exalted) Greek: πανδαιμόνιο (el) n (pandaimónio), χαμός (el) m (chamós), της τρελής (tis trelís) Icelandic: ringulreið (is) f Polish: pandemonium (pl) n Portuguese: pandemônio (pt) m (Brazil), pandemónio (pt) m (Portugal), caos (pt) m Romanian: pandemoniu (ro) n, haos (ro) n Urdu: شور‎ (śor), افراتفری‎ (afrā-tafrī)

an outburst; loud, riotous uproar

Cebuano: kasibaw Dutch: pandemonium (nl) n, heksenketel (nl) m Finnish: mekastus (fi) French: chaos (fr) m, charivari (fr) m, tumulte (fr) m, chahut (fr) m, tohu-bohu (fr) m German: Aufruhr (de) m, Gewaltausbruch (de) m, Hexensabbat (de) m (exalted) Greek: πανδαιμόνιο (el) n (pandaimónio) Portuguese: confusão (pt) f, balbúrdia (pt) f, tumulto (pt) m Romanian: haos (ro) n

See also

• Pandæmonium

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

pandemonium n (plural pandemoniums, diminutive pandemoniumpje n)

1. pandemonium, residence of all demons/devils, hell
2. pandemonium, a 'hellish' chaos, notably terrible noise and disorder

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

pandemonium n (definite singular pandemoniet, indefinite plural pandemonium, definite plural pandemonia)

1. (antiquity) temple for all gods and demigods
2. pandemonium (residence for all demons)

   Synonym: helvete

References

• “pandemonium” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English pandemonium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pan.dɛˈmɔ.ɲum/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɲum
• Syllabification: pan‧de‧mo‧nium

Noun

pandemonium n (indeclinable)

1. (literary) pandemonium (hell)

   Synonym: piekło

2. (literary) pandemonium (chaos; tumultuous or lawless violence)

   Synonym: koszmar

Further reading

• pandemonium in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pandemonium in Polish dictionaries at PWN