all bedlam broke loose
- idiom
- Informal
:
se desató el caos
- As soon as the substitute teacher turned her back, all bedlam broke loose in the classroom.
Examples
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When the doors to the sale opened, all bedlam broke loose as shoppers rushed inside.
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Moments after the referee blew the whistle, all bedlam broke loose on the football field.
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When the fire alarm rang, all bedlam broke loose in the office.
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At the concert, all bedlam broke loose when the band started playing.
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As soon as the substitute teacher turned her back, all bedlam broke loose in the classroom.
-
Moments after the referee blew the whistle, all bedlam broke loose on the football field.
-
When the doors to the sale opened, all bedlam broke loose as shoppers rushed inside.
Synonyms
123
4.2
To suddenly start in a strong or violent way, often showing strong feeling
23
3.8
Begin suddenly in a violent or noisy way
20
7.5
To act wildly and cause chaos
16
8.1
A sudden time of chaos and confusion that spreads quickly
2
5.8
Behave in a wild way without control
1
6.8
A situation that becomes noisy, messy, and out of control
A situation that suddenly goes wrong after working well
Antonyms
How Chaotic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositional: 'bedlam' denotes chaos and 'broke loose' (from 'break' + 'loose') denotes something escaping control or erupting, with 'all' functioning as an intensifier. Combined they predictably yield 'chaos erupted' — a common, cross-linguistically accessible concept — so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
All bedlam broke loose comes from an old hospital called 'Bedlam' where patients were often loud and chaotic, and the image of broke loose is like something tied breaking free; so the phrase means 'sudden chaos'.