pandemonium
noun
Darcy FreyJoseph W. Benkert 
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When John Milton needed a name for the gathering place of all demons for Paradise Lost, he turned to the classics as any sensible 17th-century writer would. Pandæmonium, as the capital of Hell is known in the epic poem, combines the Greek prefix pan-, meaning “all,” with the Late Latin daemonium, meaning “evil spirit.” (Daemonium itself traces back to the far more innocuous Greek word daímōn, meaning “spirit” or “divine power.”) Over time, Pandæmonium (or Pandemonium) came to designate all of hell and was used as well for earthbound dens of wickedness and sin. By the late-18th century, the word implied a place or state of confusion or uproar, and from there, it didn’t take long for pandemonium to become associated with states of utter disorder and wildness.
Examples of pandemonium in a Sentence
Kevin McCormick, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 June 2025
As the campaign intensifies, so does the pandemonium of the pandemic era with news coverage and social media posts stoking the flames of right-wing conspiracy, rising racial reckoning and
protests against police brutality.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2025
With a blow of his whistle, all sorts of words applied: pandemonium, euphoria, mania.
—Simon Hughes, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025
Had one of 15-year-old substitute Jeremy Monga’s efforts found the net late on there would have been pandemonium in the away end.
—Rob Tanner, New York Times, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for pandemonium
Cite this Entry
“Pandemonium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pandemonium. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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