MAYHEM
noun | MAY-hem
What It Means
Mayhem refers to needless or willful damage or violence, and especially to a scene or situation that involves a lot of violence. In figurative use, it may refer to any instance of excited activity.
// The director’s newest thriller is brimming with murder and mayhem.
Mayhem in Context
“The storage space is a veritable Fort Knox safe from tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and all manner of mischief and mayhem, where the 68-degree temperature and 45% humidity are ideal for preserving paper and film.” — Lisa Gutierrez, The Kansas City Star, 3 Mar. 2026
Did You Know?
Legally speaking, mayhem refers to the gruesome crime of deliberately causing an injury that permanently disfigures another. The word comes via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb maheimer (“to maim”) and is probably of Germanic origin; the English verb maim comes from the same ancestor. The “disfigurement” sense of mayhem first appeared in English in the 15th century. Centuries later, the word came to refer to any kind of violent behavior. Nowadays, mayhem is frequently used to suggest any kind of chaos or disorder, even in far less fraught circumstances, as in “there was mayhem on the field after the winning goal was scored.”
Merriam Webster Dictionary
