Mayhem

Noun

 * 1) a general physical disturbance; a crowd tussle or fight.
 * She waded into the mayhem, elbowing between taller men to work her way to the front of the crowd.
 * The clowns would dart into the crowd and pull another unsuspecting victim into the mayhem of the ring
 * 1) a state of disorder; chaos
 * The fighting dogs created mayhem in the flower beds.
 * What if the legendary hero Robin Hood had been born into the mayhem of the 20th century ?
 * 1)  The crime of willfully maiming or injuring a person.
 * (This was the original meaning. The later meanings arose from people misunderstanding the common journalese expression "rioting and mayhem".)

Thesaurus
bankruptcy, breakage, breakdown, chaos, collapse, commotion, confusion, crack-up, cripple, crippling, damage, destruction, detriment, devastation, dilapidation, disablement, dismember, disorder, disrepair, encroachment, fracas, harm, havoc, hobbling, hurt, hurting, impairment, incapacitation, infringement, injury, inroad, loss, maiming, mischief, mutilate, mutilation, ruination, ruinousness, sabotage, scathe, sickening, spoiling, violence, weakening

Alternative forms

 * maihem

Etymology
mayme, mahaime:, from mahaim: 'mutilation', from  mahaign: 'bodily harm, loss of limb', from, from  (compare  meidem, meiden 'gelding',  meiða 'to injure', Gothic maidjan 'to alter, falsify'), from. More at mad.

Synonyms

 * See Thesaurus:disorder, Thesaurus:commotion