hullabaloo

noun

hul·​la·​ba·​loo ˈhə-lə-bə-ˌlü 

plural hullabaloos

1

informal : a loud, continued noise or mixture of noises : din

Why do roosters crow? If they're like insects and frogs, that hullabaloo is an ad for a mate …

—Discover

Somebody heard the splash and they raised an awful hullabaloo. 'He's gone! Lower the boats! …'

—Joseph Conrad

… Hunt and her pack of highly trained dogs set off a hellacious hullabaloo, yelling and barking, discharging firecrackers …

—Christine Paige

2

informal : a state of commotion, excitement, or violent disturbance : uproar, fuss

Would there be such a hullabaloo about the violence in her books if they had been written by a man?

—Laura Z. Hobson

Sunday was a big day for the Philadelphia Phillies mascot … . It was his 40th birthday, and there was a big hullabaloo.

—Liz Roscher

There's been a lot of hullabaloo recently about the effects that grapefruit can have on certain meds.

—Chanie Kirschner

When I heard the series would finally be available to stream on Hulu, I decided to finally see what all the hullabaloo was about.

—Josh Sorokach

Synonyms

• ado
• alarums and excursions
• ballyhoo
• blather
• bluster
• bobbery
• bother
• bustle
• clatter
• clutter [chiefly dialect]
• coil
• commotion
• corroboree [Australian]
• disturbance
• do [chiefly dialect]
• foofaraw
• fun
• furor
• furore
• fuss
• helter-skelter
• hoo-ha
• hoo-hah
• hoopla
• hubble-bubble
• hubbub
• hurly
• hurly-burly
• hurricane
• hurry
• hurry-scurry
• hurry-skurry
• kerfuffle [chiefly British]
• moil
• pandemonium
• pother
• row
• ruckus
• ruction
• rumpus
• shindy
• splore [Scottish]
• squall
• stew
• stir
• storm
• to-do
• tumult
• turmoil
• uproar
• welter
• whirl
• williwaw
• zoo

Examples of hullabaloo in a Sentence

The announcement caused quite a hullabaloo.

The announcement caused a lot of hullabaloo.

There was a hullabaloo over his controversial statements.

There was a lot of hullabaloo over his controversial statements.

Recent Examples on the Web

But, no, the decision by the Swatch Group was that the pieces, although not limited, would be sold through a select number of Swatch outlets only—seemingly unaware of the hullabaloo this would generate. —Jeremy White, WIRED, 5 Sep. 2024

But while Baldoni is getting plenty of static here (he’s gone so far as to hire a veteran crisis PR manager who counts Johnny Depp among her clients), the hullabaloo has many online looking a little more closely at Lively, who is showing her face on the big screen for the first time in four years. —Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 15 Aug. 2024

Since then, Chef’s Table has reopened with two new chefs at the helm, and Ramirez is hoping to move past all the hullabaloo. —Tori Latham, Robb Report, 16 July 2024

But several present suggest the hullabaloo was at best confusing and at worst absurd. —Lacey Rose, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

perhaps from hallo + Scots balloo, interjection used to hush children

First Known Use

1762, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing hullabaloo

• all the hullabaloo
• a lot of hullabaloo

Kids Definition

hullabaloo

noun

hul·​la·​ba·​loo ˈhəl-ə-bə-ˌlü 

plural hullabaloos

informal : uproar, din