bedlam

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: bed=lam

CIDE DICTIONARY

bedlam, n. [See Bethlehem.].

•  A place appropriated to the confinement and care of the insane; a madhouse.  Abp. Tillotson.  [1913 Webster]
•  An insane person; a lunatic; a madman.  [1913 Webster]

  "Let's get the bedlam to lead him."  [1913 Webster]
•  Any place where uproar and confusion prevail.  [1913 Webster]

bedlam, a. 

 Belonging to, or fit for, a madhouse.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

bedlam, n.
1 a scene of uproar and confusion (the traffic was bedlam).
2 archaic a madhouse; an asylum.

Etymology

hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem in London

THESAURUS

bedlam

Babel, Bedlam let loose, asylum, blast, bobbery, brawl, brouhaha, bughouse, cacophony, chaos, charivari, chirm, clamor, clangor, clap, clatter, commotion, confusion, confusion of tongues, din, discord, donnybrook, drunken brawl, dustup, flap, fracas, free-for-all, hell, hell broke loose, howl, hubbub, hue and cry, hullabaloo, insane asylum, jangle, loud noise, lunatic asylum, madhouse, mental home, mental hospital, mental institution, noise, noise and shouting, nuthouse, outcry, padded cell, pandemonium, psychiatric ward, psychopathic hospital, racket, rattle, rhubarb, roar, row, ruckus, ruction, rumble, rumpus, shindy, shivaree, static, thunder, thunderclap, tintamarre, tumult, turmoil, uproar

ROGET THESAURUS

bedlam

Disorder

N disorder, derangement, irregularity, anomaly, anarchy, anarchism, want of method, untidiness, disunion, discord, confusion, confusedness, mishmash, mix, disarray, jumble, huddle, litter, lumber, cahotage, farrago, mess, mash, muddle, muss, hash, hodgepodge, hotch-potch, hotch-pot, imbroglio, chaos, omnium gatherum, medley, mere mixture, fortuitous concourse of atoms, disjecta membra, rudis indigestaque moles, complexity, turmoil, ferment, to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble, whirlwind, bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors, Bedlam, all hell broke loose, bull in a china shop, all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay, pretty kettle of fish, pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business, disorderly person, disorderly persons offence, misdemeanor, slattern, slut (libertine), disorderly, orderless, out of order, out of place, out of gear, irregular, desultory, anomalous, acephalous, deranged, aimless, disorganized, straggling, unmethodical, immethodical, unsymmetric, unsystematic, untidy, slovenly, dislocated, out of sorts, promiscuous, indiscriminate, chaotic, anarchical, unarranged &c (arrange), confused, deranged, topsy-turvy, shapeless, disjointed, out of joint, troublous, riotous, complex, irregularly, by fits, by fits and snatches, by fits and starts, pellmell, higgledy-piggledy, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, in a ferment, at sixes and sevens, at cross-purposes, upside down, the cart before the horse, hysteron proteron, chaos is come again, the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.