Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Bedlam |
BedlamNoun1. A state of extreme confusion and disorder. 2. Pejorative terms for an insane asylum. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "bedlam" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1591. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Literature | Bedlam A lunatic asylum or madhouse; a contraction for Bethlehem, the name of a religious house in London, converted into a hospital for lunatics. Tom o' Bedlam. (See Tom.) St. Mary of Bethlehem, London, was founded as a priory in 1247, and in 1547 it was given to the mayor and corporation of London, and incorporated as a royal foundation for lunatics. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: BedlamSynonyms: booby hatch (n), chaos (n), crazy house (n), cuckoo's nest (n), funny farm (n), funny house (n), loony bin (n), madhouse (n), nut house (n), nuthouse (n), pandemonium (n), sanatorium (n), snake pit (n), topsy-turvydom (n), topsy-turvyness (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disorder | Turmoil; ferment; (agitation); to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble; whirlwind; bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors; Bedlam, all hell broke loose; bull in a china shop; all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay; pretty kettle of fish; pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business. |
Madman | Noun: madman, lunatic, maniac, bedlamite, candidate for Bedlam, raver, madcap, crazy; energumen; automaniac, monomaniac, dipsomaniac, kleptomaniac; hypochondriac; (low spirits); crank, Tom o'Bedlam. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Bedlam |
| Specialty definitions using "bedlam": Bess o' Bedlam ♦ Mad Poet, MAD TOM, MAGDALENE ♦ TOM OF BEDLAM. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Bedroom Bedlam (1973) Bedtime Bedlam (1955) Bedlam in Paradise (1955) Baths and Bedlam Beds (1917) Bedlam (2002) | |
Song Titles | Boys Of Bedlam (performing artist: Steeleye Span) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | MAGDALENE, n. An inhabitant of Magdala. Popularly, a woman found out. This definition of the word has the authority of ignorance, Mary of Magdala being another person than the penitent woman mentioned by St. Luke. It has also the official sanction of the governments of Great Britain and the United States. In England the word is pronounced Maudlin, whence maudlin, adjective, unpleasantly sentimental. With their Maudlin for Magdalene, and their Bedlam for Bethlehem, the English may justly boast themselves the greatest of revisers. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Bedlam" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 90.24% of the time. "Bedlam" is used about 41 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 90.24% | 37 | 56,631 |
| Noun (proper) | 9.76% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 41 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "bedlam": cause a bedlam ♦ Tom o' Bedlam. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
bedlam | 53 |
bedlam society | 10 |
boy of bedlam | 5 |
bedlam o tom | 4 |
bedlam beehive | 4 |
asylum bedlam | 3 |
bedlam hospital | 3 |
bedlam bethlem royal | 3 |
bedlam in belgium | 2 |
bedlam belle | 2 |
eforce bedlam | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "bedlam"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | shamatë (carrying-on, din, hubbub, hurly burly, racket, rumpus, to-do), potere (ado, carrying-on, clutter, din, fracas, fray, hoopla, hoot, hubbub, hue and cry, hullabaloo, hurly burly, jangle, noise, pandemonium, pother, racket, rowdyism, rumpus, shindy, smash, uproar), çmendinë (booby hatch, lunatic asylum, madhouse, nut house). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مكان يسوده الهرج, مستشفى المجانين, مجنون (barmy, bonkers, crazy, daft, demented, dotty, fool, insane, mad, madcap, maniac, maniacal, nut, off one's nut, out of one's head, out of one's mind, scatty, screwy, tomfool, up the pole), هرج ومرج (astir, fuss, helter-skelter, hubbub, hurly burly, pandemonium, shambles). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | хаос (anarchy, chaos, clutter, interregnum, maze, mix, pandemonium, snafu, topsy turvy, topsy-turvydom, whirl), лудница (booby hatch, bughouse, madhouse, snake pit). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | boží dopuštìní (havoc), blázinec (booby hatch, circus, confusion, jumble, lunatic asylum, madhouse, nut house, pandemonium, tangle), mela. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | وابسته به دیوانه هایادیوانه خانه , تیمارستان (Asylum, Madhouse), دیوانه (Berserk, Crazy, Cuckoo, Demented, Fanatic, Fey, Gaga, Harebrained, Insane, Loco, Loony, Lunatic, Mad, Madbrained, Madcap, Manic, Natural, Nut, Nutty, Psychotic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | hullunmylly (hurly-burly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | maison de fous, hôpital de fous, chambard, chahut. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | durcheinander (babel of tongues, chaos, clutter, cluttered, confused, confusion, disorder, entanglement, hash, helter-skelter, in a mess, in a muddle, in confusion, jumble, mess, mix up, mixed up, muddle, muddled, muddled up, mussy, pell mell, piecemeal, punch-drink, tangle, tumble, upset), chaos (chaos, havoc, mayhem, pandemonium, screw up, tangle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | φρενοκομείο (lunatic asylum, madhouse, sanitarium), φασαρία (ado, bustle, commotion, din, fracas, fuss, hassle, hob, nuisance, pother, rowdiness, trouble), τρελοκομείο. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מ"ומ" (ado, din, disturbance, fracas, mess, muss, pandemonium, riot, rout, ruction, stir, trouble, tumble, turmoil). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | tébolyda (mental asylum). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | manicomio (asylum, lunatic asylum, madhouse, mental hospital). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | thie baanrit (asylum, lunatic asylum, madhouse). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | edlambay barulheira (confusion, disorder, mess, noise, rowdyism, uproar), balbúrdia (agitation, confusion, foul up, fracas, hurly burly, mess, muddle, racket, riot, rumpus, stirabout, tumult, uproar), hospital de alienados (asylum), confusão (abashment, baffle, bother, bungle, clutter, confounding, confusion, daze, disarray, discomfort, discomposure, disturbed, Donnybrook, embroilment, entanglement, fog, foul up, fuddle, hash, hodge-podge, hotchpotch, hubbub, huddle, hugger mugger, hurry, hurry-scurry, imbrue, intricate, involution, involvement, jumble, kettledrum, labyrinth, macaronic, maze, medley, mess, mind-breaker, mingle-mangle, mishmash, misrule, mix, mix up, moil, muddle, Mull, muss, olio, pandemonium, pell mell, perplexity, perturbation, pother, puddle, puzzle, Ravel, rough and tumble, rout, shuffle, situation whereby one and the same person unites two capacities for example debtor-creditor, skein, to-do, tumble, turbidity, turmoil), casa de tolos. (various references) balamuc (confusion, disorder, hubbub, madhouse), ospiciu (bughouse, institution), casã de nebuni (bughouse, insane asylum, lunatic asylum, madhouse). (various references) сумасшедший дом (booby hatch, loony-bin, lunatic asylum, madhouse, nut house, nuthouse, snakepit), бедлам. (various references) luda kuća, džumbus. (various references) ginebra (Geneva, gin, uproar), casa de locos (bear garden, madhouse), algarabía (arabic, gabble, gibberish, jabber). (various references) våldsamt tumult, dårhus (booby hatch, funny farm, madhouse, nut house). (various references) าพโกลาหลอลหม่าน. (various references) tımarhane (booby hatch, bughouse, funny farm, institution, loony bin, lunatic asylum, madhouse, mental hospital, nuthouse, snake pit), karışıklık (bungle, cataclysm, chaos, clamor, clamour, clutter, commotion, complexity, complication, confusion, disarrangement, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization, disturbance, dogs dinner, embroilment, ferment, fermentation, fray, frenzy, fuss, fuss and kerfufle, grab bag, havoc, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, huddle, hugger mugger, huggermugger, hurly burly, imbroglio, indiscrimination, intricacy, involution, jungle, kerfufle, maziness, mess, mishmash, misrule, mix, mix up, muddle, muss, perturbation, pie, pother, pretty kettle of fish, promiscuity, Ravel, riot, rough and tumble, ruckus, ruction, snafu, snarl, snarl up, stir, swirl, tangle, topsyturvy, topsyturvydom, tumble, turbidity, turbulence, unrest, upheaval, upset, wooliness, woolliness), kızılca kıyamet. (various references) божевільний (addle-brained, addle-pated, batchy, brainsick, crack-brained, crackpot, crazed, crazy, cuckoo, daft, delirious, demented, deranged, frenetic, insane, loony, lunatic, mad, madman, moonstruck, non compos, nuts, nutty, possessed, rabid, scatty), бедлам, дім для божевільних (nut house). (various references) bệnh viện tinh thần, nh thương điên cảnh hỗn loạn "n o. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "bedlam": bedlamite, bedlamites, bedlamp, bedlamps, bedlams. (additional references) | |
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"Bedlam" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Abdelal, Abdeslam, Badami, baduan, balam, Bdam, Bedall, bedam, Bedan, bedlamp, bedle, bedlem, bedload, bedlum, Bedoli, Beedham, belame, Belamy, Beldham, Belem, belim, Berlak, Bezdna, Billam, Bislama, Bodham, bodlean, bpdal, Burlam, Eeelam, Fedelma, Hedblom, neelam. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "bedlam" (pronounced be"dlum) |
| 4 | -d l u m | hoodlum. |
| 3 | -l u m | alum, antebellum, asylum, column, curriculum, diverticulum, emblem, exemplum, flagellum, fullam, golem, pablum, pendulum, phylum, problem, slalom, solemn, Solum, tantalum. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: ambled, beldam, blamed, lambed. | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-d-e-l-m" | |
-1 letter: amble, baled, blade, blame, lamed, medal. | |
-2 letters: abed, able, alme, bade, bald, bale, balm, bead, beam, bema, blae, blam, bled, dale, dame, deal, lade, lamb, lame, lead, mabe, made, male, mead, meal, meld. | |
-3 letters: alb, ale, bad, bal, bam, bed, bel, dab, dal, dam, deb, del, eld, elm, lab, lad, lam, lea, led, mad, mae, med, mel. | |
-4 letters: ab, ad, ae, al, am, ba, be, de, ed, el, em, la, ma, me. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-d-e-l-m" | |
+1 letter: bedlamp, bedlams, beldame, beldams, gambled, marbled, rambled, wambled. | |
+2 letters: balsamed, becalmed, bedlamps, beldames, brambled, damnable, dimmable, embalmed, emblazed, flambeed, gamboled, gimbaled, imbalmed, imblazed, mandible, mendable, moldable, semibald, shambled, unblamed. | |
+3 letters: admirable, ambulated, amendable, assembled, bedlamite, bemedaled, bromeliad, clambered, embattled, emendable, gambolled, gimballed, lambasted, mandibles, medicable, molybdate, scrambled, subdermal. | |
+4 letters: admissible, bamboozled, beclamored, bedlamites, beglamored, bemedalled, biomedical, bipedalism, blasphemed, blastoderm, bromeliads, deformable, demandable, descramble, emblazoned, embrangled, formidable, hebdomadal, imbalanced, lumberyard, mailbombed, marbleised, marbleized, mislabeled, mislabored, modifiable, molybdates, mothballed, redeemable, remediable, sublimated, subsampled, timberland, umbrellaed. | |
+5 letters: automobiled, bachelordom, beglamoured, bipedalisms, blackmailed, blastoderms, bloodstream, candelabrum, commandable, commendable, commendably, condemnable, demountable, denumerable, denumerably, descrambled, descrambler, descrambles, disablement, disassemble, disassembly, immedicable, immedicably, indomitable, lamebrained, lumberyards, mandibulate, medicinable, metabolized, misbalanced, mislabelled, multibladed, reassembled, subdermally, timberlands, tolbutamide, umbilicated, unassembled, unscrambled, warmblooded. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 65 64 6C 61 6D |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-... . -.. .-.. .- -- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01100101 01100100 01101100 01100001 01101101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B e d l a m |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 0065 0064 006C 0061 006D |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)367170786779 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
