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Mayhem Has Legal Roots
Legally speaking, mayhem refers to the gruesome crime of deliberately causing an injury that permanently disfigures another. The name derives via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb maheimer ("to maim") and is probably of Germanic origin; the English verb maim comes from the same ancestor. The disfigurement sense of mayhem first appeared in English in the 15th century. By the 19th century the word had come to mean any kind of violent behavior; nowadays, mayhem can be used to suggest any kind of chaos or disorder, as in "there was mayhem in the streets during the citywide blackout."
Examples of mayhem in a Sentence
Rosalio Ahumada, Sacramento Bee, 12 Apr. 2024
In fact, while Angus sought funding for their project, Caceres was targeting another foreign adversary to show the full extent of the cyber mayhem a small team could inflict.
—Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 4 Apr. 2024
The bizarre casting and bad CGI don’t help, but the film’s biggest flaw is that director Roland Emmerich fails to understand what people do like about Godzilla, turning the concept into just another disaster movie with none of the monster mayhem fans love.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 28 Mar. 2024
His wild guitar and back-up vocals add the right touch of electric mayhem, while the band adds flourishes of banjo and pedal steel.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 21 Mar. 2024
Looks to be an interesting stew of cowboy action, robot mayhem, and kooky world-building.
—Vogue, 21 Mar. 2024
Because there's more people of good than people of mayhem.
—Nbc Universal, NBC News, 17 Mar. 2024
Palacios recommends avoiding the general boarding mayhem by getting a credit card or earning elite status.
—Christopher Elliott, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2024
The mayhem started long before the 9:30 a.m. opening of the doors.
—Holly Gleason, Variety, 17 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mayhem.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near mayhem
Cite this Entry
“Mayhem.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mayhem. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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Medical Definition
Associated Press Legal Definition
mayhem
noun
Note: Under the Model Penal Code and the codes of the states that follow it, mayhem is encompassed by assault and aggravated assault.
Anglo-French mahaim mahain, literally, mutilation, from Old French mahain, from mahaignier to injure, mutilate
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