Pandemonium

Literary Practical culture language media

Etymology

Coined by John Milton in "Paradise Lost" (1667) as the name of the capital of Hell, built from Greek "pan" (all) and "daimon" (demon) — literally "place of all demons." The name of Milton’s infernal city passed into English as a common noun for uproar and confusion. It is a word invented for a poem that escaped into everyday speech.

noun · /pan-duh-MOH-nee-uhm/
Wild and noisy disorder; utter chaos.
What it names
For tumultuous uproar — the din of a crowd or event that has lost all order.
Example
The winning goal in stoppage time sent the stadium into pandemonium.
Related idea
Both pandemonium and bedlam mean chaos, but pandemonium was minted by a poet for the city of demons, while bedlam grew from a real London asylum — literary coinage versus place-name.