kəˈmōshən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English commocioun, from Middle French commotion, from Latin commotion-, commotio, from commotus (past participle of commovēre ) + -ion-, -io -ion
1. : a condition of civil unrest, public disorder, agitation, or insurrection
18 years of commotion had made the majority of the people ready to buy repose at any price — T.B.Macaulay
2. : continuous or recurrent motion
the commotion of the steady gentle breeze
the thermal commotion of the surface atoms — Physical Review
3. : mental excitement, uncertainty, or confusion
startled … into no ordinary state of commotion — Arnold Bennett
4.
a. : violent or sharp disturbance : noisy, unruly, or tumultuous stir
a gang of hooligans making a commotion in the street
b. : noisy confusion : hustle
there was commotion all over the house at the return of the young heir — George Meredith
5. medicine : concussion , shock
Synonyms:
agitation , confusion , tumult , turmoil , turbulence , convulsion , upheaval : commotion may suggest unusual, violent, or disturbing activity usually accompanied by noise, uproar, hubbub, or activity bringing with it unrest
wakened at midnight by a commotion in the street below
trying to put out a drunk without distracting commotion
agitators keeping up a commotion during the speech
agitation may suggest a strong swirling, stirring, or seething, an emotional excitation similar to these physical actions, or a sustained effort to stir up excitement about some political or social issue
the panting of the horses communicated a tremulous motion to the coach, as if it were in a state of agitation — Charles Dickens
breathless with agitation — Jane Austen
an anti-Catholic agitation that was marked by the destruction of churches — American Guide Series: New York
confusion describes a state in which things are mixed, poured, or heaped together in a jumble so that differentiation is hard, a mental condition marked by uncertainty, indecisiveness and doubt, or a social or political situation making for such a condition
tremendous smokestacks rose out of a confusion of buildings — New Yorker
if jostled they bowed profusely to the jostlers, and appeared overwhelmed with confusion — E.A.Poe
tumult applies to commotion and agitation marked by uproar, din, or, more specif., the noise of a great mob in riot or to any similar noisy jarring inescapable confusion
the tumults and disorders of the Great Rebellion — T.S.Eliot
the whole knoll was suddenly in a tumult of movement; mounted officers clattered off — Kenneth Roberts
turmoil indicates a state in which everything is in agitated disorder and pointless noisy activity, where nothing is at rest or in place
the turmoil which attends departure from home — F.A.Swinnerton
her life had been calm, regular, monotonous. And now it was thrown into an indescribable turmoil — Arnold Bennett
the revolutionary turmoil in Mexico in 1913 — American Guide Series: Texas
turbulence suggests swirling wild unruly disorder or a disposition to it
scenes of public turbulence and crass overriding of parliamentary opinion — Cecil Sprigge
the turbulence normal in a frontier community — R.A.Billington
plenty of the turbulence of passion but none of the gravity of thoughtful emotion — A.T.Quiller-Couch
convulsion indicates a violent, spasmodic, or sudden surging, confused action — as in the earth's crust, the individual's mind, or the body politic
flourishing cities were demolished by the earth's convulsion — Martin Gardner
the convulsions of a soul storm-driven and unreconcilable spiritual conflicts — H.O.Taylor
upheaval indicates a violent, very forceful thrusting out or up, heaving up, or overthrowing
the vast social convulsions of a continent in travail are such a mystery to this type of mind that even the most catastrophic upheavals are attributed to mistakes made in our State Department — Reinhold Niebuhr
new islands rising from the seas as a result of volcanic upheavals