different between uproar vs commotion

English

Etymology

Calque of Dutch oproer or German Aufruhr. Possibly influenced by roar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??p???/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??p????/

Noun

uproar (countable and uncountable, plural uproars)

1. Tumultuous, noisy excitement. [from 1520s]
2. Loud confused noise, especially when coming from several sources.
3. A loud protest, controversy, outrage

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:commotion

Derived terms

• uproarious
• uproarish

Translations

Verb

uproar (third-person singular simple present uproars, present participle uproaring, simple past and past participle uproared)

1. (transitive) To throw into uproar or confusion.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 3,^[1]

     […] had I power, I should

     Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,

     Uproar the universal peace, confound

     All unity on earth.

2. (intransitive) To make an uproar.
   • 1661, William Caton, The Abridgment of Eusebius Pamphilius’s Ecclesiastical History, London: Francis Holden, 1698, Part II, p. 110, note,^[2]

     […] through their Tumultuous Uproaring have they caused the peaceable and harmless to suffer […]

   • 1824, Thomas Carlyle (translator), Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and Travels by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, New York: A.L. Burt, 1839, Book 4, Chapter 8, pp. 210-211,^[3]

     […] the landlady entering at this very time with news that his wife had been delivered of a dead child, he yielded to the most furious ebullitions; while, in accordance with him, all howled and shrieked, and bellowed and uproared, with double vigor.

   • 1828, Robert Montgomery, The Omnipresence of the Deity, London: Samuel Maunder, Part II, p. 56,^[4]

     When red-mouth’d cannons to the clouds uproar,

     And gasping hosts sleep shrouded in their gore,

   • 1829, Mason Locke Weems, The Life of General Francis Marion, Philadelphia: Joseph Allen, Chapter 12, p. 106,^[5]

     Officers, as well as men, now mingle in the uproaring strife, and snatching the weapons of the slain, swell the horrid carnage.

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From Middle French commocion, from Latin comm?ti?nem, accusative singular of comm?ti?, from comm?tus, perfect passive participle of commove?.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k??m??.??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /k??mo?.??n/
• Rhymes: -????n, -o???n

Noun

commotion (countable and uncountable, plural commotions)

1. A state of turbulent motion.
2. An agitated disturbance or a hubbub.
3. (euphemistic) Sexual excitement.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:commotion

Derived terms

• commotional

Related terms

Translations

French

Pronunciation

Noun

commotion f (plural commotions)

1. A violent collision or shock; concussion
2. shock, surprise

Further reading

• “commotion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).