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
So many of us have spent these last few months running and thither from bad news to more bad news, from chaos to bedlam, from disbelief to shock.
—
Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2025
His second was an absolute pearl of a goal, setting off complete bedlam at Monterrey’s iconic Estadio BBVA, known as ‘The Steel Giant’.
—Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 7 June 2025
To be fair, Fox didn’t have to search hard for bedlam.
—Max Taves, Mercury News, 11 June 2025
No disrespect to those who missed it, but those early screenings of Roland Emmerich's Independence Day were barely contained bedlam.
—Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 4 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for bedlam
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Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2025
His second was an absolute pearl of a goal, setting off complete bedlam at Monterrey’s iconic Estadio BBVA, known as ‘The Steel Giant’.
—Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 7 June 2025
To be fair, Fox didn’t have to search hard for bedlam.
—Max Taves, Mercury News, 11 June 2025
No disrespect to those who missed it, but those early screenings of Roland Emmerich's Independence Day were barely contained bedlam.
—Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 4 July 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 6 Aug. 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.
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