as in circus
a place of uproar or confusion
the house has been a three-ring circus ever since the kids got back from summer camp
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Recent Examples of three-ring circus
As real estate agent Greg, Matt Rogers makes for a delightful ringmaster of this three-ring circus.
—
Alison Herman, Variety, 12 Dec. 2024
The chords and harmonies of Williams' music sound similar to the poppy anthems of that cinematic three-ring circus, and the choreography team of Ashley Wallen and Jenny Griffin reunite with Gracey to contextualize Williams' worldwide hits with new dance numbers.
—EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024
The household in the 1970s was routinely described as a three-ring circus filled with rowdy kids, lost pets and haggard servants who often quit in frustration, saying Ethel was difficult to work for.
—Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2024
Democrats, who slammed the impeachment inquiry as a political stunt, described the Republican conference as a three-ring circus.
—Marianna Sotomayor, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Amy B Wang, Jacqueline Alemany, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for three-ring circus
Alison Herman, Variety, 12 Dec. 2024
The chords and harmonies of Williams' music sound similar to the poppy anthems of that cinematic three-ring circus, and the choreography team of Ashley Wallen and Jenny Griffin reunite with Gracey to contextualize Williams' worldwide hits with new dance numbers.
—EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024
The household in the 1970s was routinely described as a three-ring circus filled with rowdy kids, lost pets and haggard servants who often quit in frustration, saying Ethel was difficult to work for.
—Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2024
Democrats, who slammed the impeachment inquiry as a political stunt, described the Republican conference as a three-ring circus.
—Marianna Sotomayor, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Amy B Wang, Jacqueline Alemany, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for three-ring circus
Recent Examples of Synonyms for three-ring circus
Noun
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There’s a great deal of variation across folk schools; students can learn filmmaking, circus arts, or even how to live like a Viking.—
Barry Levitt,
Time,
25 July 2025
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The survey spans the breadth of U.K. entertainment, with respondents working across theater (84%), live events and concerts (34%), opera (23%), dance (22%), film (16%), TV (14%), recorded audio (14%), video games (2%) and circus (4%), among other sectors.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
24 July 2025
Noun
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The madhouse of awards season and all its many, many controversies — not to mention an ongoing parade of natural and man-made disasters — has until now perhaps overshadowed some of the year’s lower-stakes joys.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2025
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But things move fast in the Goodison madhouse.—
Greg O'Keeffe,
The Athletic,
9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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So many of us have spent these last few months running and thither from bad news to more bad news, from chaos to bedlam, from disbelief to shock.—
Donna Vickroy,
Chicago Tribune,
19 June 2025
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His second was an absolute pearl of a goal, setting off complete bedlam at Monterrey’s iconic Estadio BBVA, known as ‘The Steel Giant’.—
Felipe Cardenas,
New York Times,
7 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Three-ring circus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/three-ring%20circus. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
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