Definition of KERFUFFLE

The Evolution of Kerfuffle

Fuffle was first used in Scottish English, as early as the 16th century, as a verb meaning "to dishevel." The addition of the prefix car- (possibly derived from a Scottish Gaelic word meaning "wrong" or "awkward") didn't change the meaning of the word considerably. In the 19th century carfuffle, with its variant curfuffle, became a noun, and in the 20th century it was embraced by a broader population of English speakers and standardized to kerfuffle. There is some dispute among language historians over how the altered spelling came to be favored. One theory holds that it might have been influenced by imitative words like kerplunk, where the syllable ker- is simply added for emphasis.

Examples of kerfuffle in a Sentence

predictably, the royal scandal caused quite a kerfuffle on Fleet Street

Recent Examples on the Web

That decision set off a brief kerfuffle with the Irish government, which wanted the meeting between Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and Trump to take place somewhere more formal. — Washington Post, "The other royal family? Trump adult kids take London," 4 June 2019 On April 4, the team engaged in the whole kerfuffle with a long, funny, and heartfelt thread about Keiley. — Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Instagram Account Originally Belonged to Someone Else Until They Took Over," 4 Apr. 2019 Technically a feud that began in 2017, the Jane Fonda versus Megyn Kelly debacle continued into 2018, and not only because Kelly ill-advisedly waded back into the kerfuffle. — Bridget Read, Vogue, "This Was the Year of Celebrity Feuds," 26 Dec. 2018 Speaking to The Wall Street Journal after the kerfuffle, Mr. Spavor was unshaken, viewing the hockey game, the first inter-Korean sports match on Korean soil in nearly three years, as a hopeful omen for diplomacy. — Chun Han Wong, WSJ, "Cocktails With Kim: Canadian Detained in China Met North Korean Dictator," 13 Dec. 2018 Warren instantly started raising money off the kerfuffle. — Celeste Katz, Glamour, "How did ‘likability’ become a thing for women in politics?," 18 Jan. 2019 Most of the kerfuffle was not about the money, but rather the wording of the post, which essentially called non-paying users thieves. — Scott Gilbertson, Ars Technica, "A tour of elementary OS, perhaps the Linux world’s best hope for the mainstream," 28 Dec. 2018 So from a public-relations standpoint, the SEC comments and the kerfuffle afterwards were probably a mistake. — Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, "Elon Musk doesn’t respect the SEC, which is still investigating Tesla," 14 Dec. 2018 Believe it or not, five prominent scholars who have been sharply divided over past courtroom kerfuffles over the Affordable Care Act are uniting in opposition to the health-care law’s latest challenge. — Paige Winfield Cunningham, Washington Post, "The Health 202: Some of Obamacare's loudest critics are now defending the law in court," 15 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'kerfuffle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.