Uproar

How to spell uproar

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce uproar

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does uproar mean?

1. nounA loud and confused noise of shouting or protest, or a state of noisy public outrage.

Uproar in a sentence

• The council's parking decision caused a public uproar among local residents.

• The comedian's joke about the company was met with uproar from the audience.

Where does uproar come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

Despite how it looks, uproar has nothing to do with the noise of a roaring lion. It was borrowed in the early 1500s from Dutch oproer, meaning an insurrection or revolt, built from op 'up' and roer 'a stirring up or commotion'. The word arrived in English during the religious upheavals of the Reformation, when Martin Luther's related German word Aufruhr ('uprising') was much in the air, and early English versions kept the rebellious sense of a violent disturbance. Because English speakers heard the second syllable as the familiar word 'roar', they reshaped the spelling and gradually attached the idea of loud shouting and noise to it. That folk reworking is exactly why the ending is spelled 'roar' rather than 'roer', even though the original had no connection to roaring at all. Today it simply means a state of noisy commotion or public outcry.

How the word is built

• up- (folk-etymological respelling of Dutch op-)
• roar (from Dutch roer: stirring, motion)