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Definition of maelstrom
1 : a powerful often violent whirlpool sucking in objects within a given radius tried to shoot the canoe across a stretch of treacherous maelstrom — Harper's
2 : something resembling a maelstrom in turbulence the maelstrom enveloping the country a maelstrom of emotions
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maelstrom was our Word of the Day on 01/05/2017. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of maelstrom in a Sentence
She was caught in a maelstrom of emotions.
The ship was drawn into the maelstrom.
Recent Examples of maelstrom from the Web
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Dooley appeared in court Wednesday in a murder case that has become one of the region's most famous - and one that has caused a political maelstrom.
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There were company members who weren’t online and were somewhat cut off from the tweeting, the Facebook posts, the general maelstrom of it all.
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June 16, 2017 Athens—Subdued by three bailouts, record high unemployment and a maelstrom of taxes, Greeks were in no mood to party on Friday, June 16, 2017, at news of a last-gasp deal pulling them from the brink of a financial abyss.
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Sessions had one major goal -- to protect himself after Comey thrust him into the center of the Russia maelstrom.
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Despite the tweets and Comey maelstrom, some good things are happening in the executive branch.
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Most of the men saw not yet the need of heroic steps, steps that would take them out over the brink of the maelstrom.
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And what has happened in Princeton, perhaps, is a cautionary tale: If this town faced a maelstrom, what town wouldn’t?
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Born in 1911 to an aristocratic Polish family in Lithuania, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time, Milosz was swept up in the maelstrom of the twentieth century from the beginning.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'maelstrom'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Maelstrom comes from an early Dutch proper noun that literally meant "turning stream." The original Maelstrom is a channel that has dangerous tidal currents located off the northwest coast of Norway. The word became popularized in the general vocabulary of English in reference to a powerful whirlpool, or something akin to one, in the 19th century. This was partly due to its use by writers such as Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne (whose writing was widely translated from French) in stories exaggerating the tempestuousness of the Norwegian current and transforming it into a whirling vortex.
Origin and Etymology of maelstrom
obsolete Dutch (now maalstroom), from malen to grind + strom stream
MAELSTROM Defined for English Language Learners
maelstrom
playDefinition of maelstrom for English Language Learners
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: a situation in which there are a lot of confused activities, emotions, etc.
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: a dangerous area of water that moves very fast in a circle
Learn More about maelstrom
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for maelstrom Spanish Central: Translation of maelstrom Nglish: Translation of maelstrom for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about maelstrom
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