Tumultuous Meaning
/tjʊˈmʌl.tjʊ.əs/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjCharacterized by loud, confused noise.
adjCausing or characterized by tumult; chaotic, disorderly, turbulent.
Sentence Examples
Fadil and Layla had a tumultuous love story.
Layla and Sami had a tumultuous marriage.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ protest lasted for hours and blocked the streets.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ career was marked by many great successes and several difficult challenges over the last thirty years today.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1709, Horace, translated by [Wentworth Dillon, 4th] Earl of Roscommon, Horace: Of the Art of Poetry: A Poem, London: Printed and sold by H[enry] Hills, […], →OCLC, page 5:
"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."
— 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 68:
"Down showers tumultuous music from the belfry of Old Trinity— / Merry chiming for His birth, and gave songs for His Divinity!"
— 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:
""Flynn! Flynn! Mike Flynn!" came surging a tumultuous roar from the crowd."
— 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:
"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; […]"
— 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 13–18:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ protest lasted for hours and blocked the streets.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ career was marked by many great successes and several difficult challenges over the last thirty years today.