Examples of bedlam in a Sentence
The park had never had so many visitors at one time. It was total bedlam.
French physician Philippe Pinel was instrumental in the transformation of bedlams from filthy hellholes to well-ordered, humane institutions.
Recent Examples on the Web
Beer cups flew throughout SoFi Stadium as Jiménez stood tall at the penalty spot admiring the bedlam.
—
Felipe Cardenas, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025
Take Laurent Garnier, who played the song to a gleeful Barcelona crowd shortly after its release, sending them and more than 70,000 viewers into bedlam.
—Sam Davies, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2025
There’s nothing like spending an evening lost in a dreamy musical to take one far and away from today’s bedlam.
—Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 24 Feb. 2025
The bedlam, though, is the point.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bedlam
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Felipe Cardenas, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025
Take Laurent Garnier, who played the song to a gleeful Barcelona crowd shortly after its release, sending them and more than 70,000 viewers into bedlam.
—Sam Davies, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2025
There’s nothing like spending an evening lost in a dreamy musical to take one far and away from today’s bedlam.
—Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 24 Feb. 2025
The bedlam, though, is the point.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bedlam
Cite this Entry
“Bedlam.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bedlam. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bedlam
noun
bed·lam
ˈbed-ləm 
: a place or scene of uproar and confusion
Etymology
from Middle English Bedlem "Bethlehem"
Word Origin
Around 1402 the home of a religious community in London was turned into a hospital for the mentally ill. This new hospital kept the name of the community and was known as the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem. People soon shortened this name to Bethlehem. In Middle English, though, the town of Bethlehem in Palestine was called Bedlem or Bethlem, so this was the pronunciation used for the hospital's name. In time the name Bedlem or Bedlam came to refer to any home for the mentally ill. Today we use bedlam for any scene of noise and confusion like that found in the early hospitals for the mentally ill.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share