Etymology

Noun

1. A place or situation of chaotic uproar, and where confusion prevails.

Quotations

• 1872: John Bunyan, The Complete Works of John Bunyan, p 133

  Some of the wards were veritable "bedlams," and dis-charged patients have told of abuses practiced in them of which the mere recital causes a shudder.

• 2002: Mark L. Friedman, Everyday Crisis Management, p 134

  The outside of the Hyatt was bedlam. There was a group of more than a hundred injured people on the circular drive in front of the hotel.