tumultuous

English

Etymology

From Old French tumultuous (modern French tumultueux), from Latin tumultuōsus (“restless, turbulent”), from tumultus (“disturbance, uproar, violent commotion, tumult; agitation, disturbance, excitement”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tjʊˈmʌl.tjʊ.əs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /tuˈmʌl.t͡ʃu.əs/, /tə-/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tu‧mult‧u‧ous

Adjective

tumultuous (comparative more tumultuous, superlative most tumultuous)

1. Characterized by loud, confused noise.

   Synonyms: noisy, uproarious; see also Thesaurus:noisy

   • 1709, Horace, translated by [Wentworth Dillon, 4th] Earl of Roscommon, Horace: Of the Art of Poetry: A Poem, London: Printed and sold by H Hills, , →OCLC, page 5:

     Rage with Iambicks, arm'd Archilocus / Numbers for Dialogue and Action fit, / And Favourites of the Dramatick Muſe. / Fierce, Lofty, Rapid, whoſe commanding Sound / Awes the tumultuous Noiſes of the Pit, / And whoſe peculiar Province is the Stage.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, , →OCLC, page 68:

     The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there, than Scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count; and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty.

   • 1865 February, “Christmas at Trinity”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XXX, number CLXXVII, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, , →OCLC, page 335:

     Down showers tumultuous music from the belfry of Old Trinity— / Merry chiming for His birth, and gave songs for His Divinity!

   • 1917 December, Howard Philip Rhoades, “Home Town Homage”, in The Black Cat: Clever Short Stories, volume XXIII, number 3, Salem, Mass.: Shortstory Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 23:

     "Flynn! Flynn! Mike Flynn!" came surging a tumultuous roar from the crowd.

2. Causing or characterized by tumult; chaotic, disorderly, turbulent.

   Synonyms: riotous, tempestuous, tumultuary; see also Thesaurus:disorderly

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 13–18:

     Yet not rejoycing in his [Satan's] ſpeed, though bold, / Far off and fearleſs, nor with cauſe to boaſt, / Begins his dire attempt, with nigh the birth / Now rowling, boiles in his tumultuous breſt, / And like a devilliſh Engine back recoiles, / Upon himſelf; […]

   • 1715 July 24, Samuel Rosewell, The Unreasonableness of the Present Riotous and Tumultuous Proceedings: As are Directed against His Majesty King George; and His Faithful Subjects, the Protestant Dissenters: , London: Printed for M. Lawrence, , →OCLC, page 17:

     And ſeeing theſe Tumultuous and Rebellious Men do more immediately vent their Malice on ſome of their Fellow-Subjects and Fellow-Protestants, who will be true to their Oaths, and their Obligations to the King, whom God has placed over them, may not one humbly ask, As for theſe Sheep, what have they done? What Cauſe is there whereby an Account may be given of theſe tumultuous Inſurrections against them?

   • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in Peveril of the Peak. , volume IV, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 108:

     The old cavalier stooped his head in token of acquiescence in the command of his Sovereign, but he raised it not again. The tumultuous agitation of the moment had been too much for spirits which had been long in a state of depression, and health which was much decayed.

   • 1913, Booth Tarkington, chapter 5, in The Flirt, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 71:

     She leaned very slowly closer and yet closer to the mirror; a rich colour spread over her; her eyes, gazing into themselves, became dreamy, inexpressibly wistful, cloudily sweet; her breath was tumultuous.

   • 2007, Laurie Burnham, Rivers‎, Chelsea House, →ISBN, page 43:

     A tumultuous waterway, the Yangtze ranks second after the Amazon in terms of discharge. Fed by copious amounts of melting snow and also heavy rains, the river's flow is 10 times greater than China's Huang Ho (Hwang River, Huanghe; also known in English as the Yellow River).

   • 2017 March 1, Anthony Zurcher, “Trump Addresses Congress: A Kinder, Gentler President”, in BBC News‎, archived from the original on 2 February 2018:

     In his first address to a joint session of Congress, after a tumultuous first month in office, Mr [Donald] Trump delivered a conventional speech in a conventional manner.

Antonyms

• untumultuous
• (antonym(s) of “characterized by loud, confused noise”): see Thesaurus:quiet
• (antonym(s) of “causing or characterized by tumult”): see Thesaurus:calm

Derived terms

• tumultuously
• tumultuousness
• untumultuous

Related terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• tumultuous (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia