Tumultuous

How to spell tumultuous

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce tumultuous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tumultuous mean?

1. adjectiveFull of noise, disorder, or violent and rapid change.

Tumultuous in a sentence

• The company survived a tumultuous year of layoffs and leadership changes.

• Their tumultuous relationship was full of dramatic breakups and reconciliations.

Where does tumultuous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin adjective tumultuosus, meaning 'full of bustle, uproar, or disorder', which was built on the noun tumultus, a 'commotion' or 'violent disturbance'. That noun in turn grew from the verb tumere, meaning 'to swell' or 'to bulge', the same root that gives us 'tumour' and 'tumid'; the underlying image is of something swelling up into chaotic, boiling agitation, like a crowd surging or a sea heaving. English adopted the word in the early 1500s, often by way of French forms, to describe noisy, disorderly, and emotionally turbulent situations. The tricky middle of the spelling, the second 'tu' that becomes a 'choo' sound, comes straight from that -tuous ending and is exactly where writers tend to slip. Remembering the base noun 'tumult' keeps the first part steady, and recalling the swelling sense of tumere helps explain why the word carries such a feeling of violent upheaval.

How the word is built

• tumult- (from Latin tumultus: uproar, commotion)
• -u-
• -ous (adjective suffix: full of)