What's the difference between chaos and mayhem?

Chaos


Definition:

  • (n.) An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm.
  • (n.) The confused, unorganized condition or mass of matter before the creation of distinct and orderly forms.
  • (n.) Any confused or disordered collection or state of things; a confused mixture; confusion; disorder.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Before issuing the ruling, the judge Shaban El-Shamy read a lengthy series of remarks detailing what he described as a litany of ills committed by the Muslim Brotherhood, including “spreading chaos and seeking to bring down the Egyptian state”.
  • (2) They insist this is the best way of ensuring the country does not descend into chaos before the final withdrawal of combat troops.
  • (3) Harry was 12 years old when Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash but said it was not until his late 20s, after two years of “total chaos”, that he processed the grief.
  • (4) At one, in the Gun and Dog pub in Leeds on Tuesday, a witness described how the meeting descended into chaos when one of the rebels smashed a glass and threatened to attack Griffin supporter Mark Collett.
  • (5) Secularism is the only way to stop collapse and chaos and to foster bonds of citizenship in our complex democracy.
  • (6) Senior executives at Network Rail are likely to be summoned to Westminster to explain the engineering overruns that caused chaos for Christmas travellers over the weekend.
  • (7) Speaking before details about Thompson's evidence to the committee had been made public, Hodge said she had seen evidence of "total chaos" at an organisation more concerned with its public image than licence fee payers' money.
  • (8) One hundred days from Rio, Britain’s national cycling team has been thrown into chaos following the sudden resignation of its head, technical director Shane Sutton , as allegations of bullying and discrimination against women and Paralympians accumulated on Wednesday.
  • (9) The Public Accounts committee (PAC) said on Thursday that the "chaos" surrounding the failure of G4S to provide enough staff for the Olympics had undermined confidence in Games organisers.
  • (10) Internal chaos is highly productive for a creative person.
  • (11) In a day of chaos for the Lib Dems, Cable strongly denied being involved in attempts by his friend, Lord Oakeshott, to get rid of Clegg, insisting he was strongly behind his leader.
  • (12) After a night of chaos and bloodshed, Yıldırım said the government would consider reintroducing the death penalty, which would allow it to execute those behind the coup, the country’s fifth in 60 years.
  • (13) The paramedic said the system was in chaos.” When Charles was finally in the ambulance, the family was warned there could be a long wait at hospital.
  • (14) If you are a London commuter dreading tube strike chaos this evening and tomorrow there is an alternative to fighting your way on to overcrowded buses or a long walk.
  • (15) To explain these contentions, the history, strengths, and limits of reductionist thinking are discussed, and aspects of chaos science, such as the butterfly effect and strange attractors, are described.
  • (16) Now boos ring round the stadium as the resultant free kick causes some chaos in the box and Seattle are penalized for Zach Scott holding.
  • (17) In perhaps the most telling exchange, May implored Juncker, “Let us make Brexit a success.” The commission president responded that while he didn’t want chaos, “Brexit cannot be a success.” No 10 has said it does not recognise the account.
  • (18) An American citizen abandoned in a Yemeni jail amid the country’s spiralling chaos is heard screaming for his life in a newly released telephone call.
  • (19) The rope suddenly breaks in Götterdämmerung, and that's the end of their role – they can no longer foresee the future because the structured and predictable world of the gods is about to be replaced by the chaos of human existence.
  • (20) The Normandie Design is plum in the middle of the amiable chaos of South American city life, in Santa Efigênia, where the streets are thronged with tiny electronics stores – great if you fancy a fake Chinese iPhone.

Mayhem


Definition:

  • (n.) The maiming of a person by depriving him of the use of any of his members which are necessary for defense or protection. See Maim.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Oddly, Wagner fails to tell us what happens to Alberich, who, despite being responsible for all the Tarantinoesque mayhem, is the only character left standing by the end.
  • (2) MPs said the group's decision to target some of the UK's most prominent Muslim communities was a blatant attempt to provoke mayhem and disorder.
  • (3) The home secretary, the chancellor, and perhaps even the foreign secretary may go, and Labour faces its worst defeat in its history on Thursday, but the prime minister does not recognise his direct responsibility for the mayhem.
  • (4) All that talk of “populism” looks like pussyfooting around now that Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon is stoking up apparently intentional mayhem .
  • (5) The current mayhem over lethal injections has led some prominent public figures to say that the US supreme court should consider imposing a new moratorium.
  • (6) He also issued a warning that anyone responsible for inciting post-election mayhem would be barred entry to the United States, where millions of Nigerians live.
  • (7) Most local media outlets joined the government in presenting the constitution's enactment as the only means of achieving stability following three years of economic hardship and political mayhem since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
  • (8) Like Rona Jaffe's novel of the 50s, The Best of Everything – a book that Rakoff loves and reread before she started work on My Salinger Year – it is concerned with what it feels like to move to the big city, to take on your first job, and to struggle to survive on a tiny salary when all the while your dreams are seemingly being snuffed out at every turn, and your love life is spiralling into muddle and mayhem.
  • (9) Non-governmental organisations reported scenes of mayhem at the port of Piraeus , where about 5,000 men, women and children amassed.
  • (10) Here is what Paulson sees coming: low double-digit inflation by 2012, killing the bond market, and restoring strength to equities and gold; US economic growth capped in 2011 and 2012; a weak US housing market; currency mayhem; and continued dollar weakness as Washington struggles to tackle its debt.
  • (11) The mayhem at the mosque was in many ways one of nightmarish deja-vu for many of those present.
  • (12) These are people who want to destroy our way of life by causing murder and mayhem on the streets of the UK.
  • (13) After being forced to apologise for the mayhem two weeks ago when fewer than 250 police were unable to marshal a crowd of more than 50,000, Scotland Yard sent almost four times as many officers onto the streets and quickly penned marchers into a section of streets.
  • (14) The mayhem came in direct defiance of a warning from Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy that rioters faced stiff punishments.
  • (15) For Thomas Bradley, a barber in Ferguson, the mayhem in this Missouri town has given the expression a literal meaning.
  • (16) He accuses Cameron of being simplistic by suggesting that criminality and police errors alone can explain the mayhem.
  • (17) As Tyler and Odd Future member Hodgy Beats stormed the set for their television debut, they mugged for the cameras, jumped around the interview seating and caused delightful visual mayhem, with The Roots performing as their live backing band.
  • (18) It is shocking to discover that our government has embroiled British personnel in the targeting process that is creating this mayhem.
  • (19) And in so doing, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.
  • (20) Tunis museum attack: 19 people killed after hostage drama at tourist site Read more Mounting mayhem in neighbouring Libya is part of the problem as hardline Islamist militants have managed to cross porous borders or have smuggled weapons to like-minded extremists such as Ansar al-Sharia, which has branches in Tunisia and elsewhere across the Maghreb region.