Word.ws English Dictionary

maelstroms

maelstroms is the plural of maelstrom.

Meaning of maelstrom

Noun

maelstrom (plural maelstroms)

  1. A large and violent whirlpool.
    • To his right fell a gleaming sheet of water, and below it was a maelstrom, that made one giddy by its terrific gyrations.1905, James Edward Preston Muddock, “A Petrified Forest”, in The Sunless City […], London: F. V. White & Co., →OCLC
  2. (figuratively) A chaotic or turbulent situation.
    • It was of Jean Paul's doing: some single billow in that vast World-Mahlstrom of Humour, with its heaven-kissing coruscations, which is now, alas, all congealed in the frost of death!1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Characteristics”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 22
    Synonyms:
    pandemonium

Questions about maelstroms

What is maelstroms the plural of?
Maelstroms is the plural of maelstrom.

Words near maelstroms in the dictionary

  1. maelid
  2. maelids
  3. Maelor South
  4. maelstrom
  5. maelstromic
  6. maelstroms
  7. maelström
  8. maelströms
  9. Maelzel's metronome
  10. Maemacterion
  11. Maemakterion

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: maelstroms (page history and authors); maelstrom (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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