pandemonium

noun

pan·​de·​mo·​ni·​um ˌpan-də-ˈmō-nē-əm 

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. Pandæmonium, 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 daímōn, meaning “spirit” or “divine power.”) Over time, Pandæmonium (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

Christmas morning at our house is always marked by pandemonium

a surrealist painting in which all the torments of Pandemonium are vividly depicted

Recent Examples on the Web

The Dems set aside their squabbling just long enough to reject the pandemonium of an open convention and unify behind Vice President Kamala Harris. —Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2024

In short, despite the regional pandemonium, Sykes-Picot seems to be alive and well. —Steven Simon, Foreign Affairs, 26 Aug. 2014

An open convention would create sub-Sorkin pandemonium. —Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 5 July 2024

Many others were not so fortunate as they were trapped under the big top by animal cages blocking the exits or caught up in the pandemonium. —Dominic Fulco Iii, Hartford Courant, 6 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

pan- + Late Latin daemonium "evil spirit," borrowed from Greek daimónion "evil spirit," earlier "divine power, inferior divine being," derivative of daímōn "divinity, divine power, individual destiny" (with -ium probably to be read as Latin -ium or Greek -eion, suffixes of place) — more at demon

First Known Use

1667, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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Kids Definition

pandemonium

noun

pan·​de·​mo·​ni·​um

ˌpan-də-ˈmō-nē-əm

: a wild uproar : tumult

Etymology

from Pandemonium, name of the place of demons in Paradise Lost by John Milton, from Greek pan- "all, every, completely" and Greek daimon "evil spirit, demon"