all hell broke loose
16
8.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
se desató el caos
- When the fire alarm went off, all hell broke loose as people rushed to the exits.
- then all hell broke loose
- later, all hell broke loose
- Well, all hell broke loose
Well, a few years later, all hell breaks loose with Josh's addiction.
- Well, a few years later, all hell breaks loose with Josh's addiction.
- Collective thinking takes over and all hell breaks loose.
- But before we got to that correct result, all hell broke loose over there.
- And now they're forced to sell these long bonds at a loss and all hell breaks loose.
- When former doctors speak out and start criticizing allopathic medicine, all hell breaks loose.
- And a few minutes later, all hell broke loose as my colleagues just.
- And then all kind of all hell broke loose in Athens.
- They get drug out, it just all hell breaks loose.
- And so they were all super excited about two weeks went in and man, all hell broke loose.
- Second, I'm not sure where, but all hell broke loose and we had to from there go move into a safe house.
Examples
-
But once West found out that she had been given a show on MSNBC, all hell broke loose.
Blog text (5) -
A prosecutor arrested the men and seized the cargo, but then all hell broke loose.
Academic text (2015) -
When we got there all hell broke loose.
-
Then all hell broke loose and everybody started shooting.
-
So when we had the incident at the Main Street bar, all hell broke loose.
Academic text (1997) -
We kids had gone to bed, and some to sleep, when all hell broke loose down in the kitchen.
Academic text (2009) -
When all hell broke loose, Maggie was right there at my side.
Fiction book (2000) -
So as everyone remembers, all hell broke loose in Minneapolis after this.
-
I won't speculate on how or why President Reagan said that, but as soon as he did, all hell broke loose in the White House press corps.
Academic text (2014) -
Reports are contradictory, but from what we can tell... ...Cardinal O'Fallon was midway through a sermon when all hell broke loose.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A situation in which things are untidy and confused
438
3.1
A situation with no order where people are confused and cannot act normally
138
4.8
A time of great confusion and disorder
68
7.3
Violent disorder and chaos that causes damage or a lot of trouble
51
6.9
A sudden big change that causes confusion and problems
47
3.9
A loud, confused noise and activity by a group of people
22
8.0
A loud, wild situation of disorder and confusion
18
4.6
A sudden major change that shocks and upsets a group or system
10
6.2
A wild fight or argument with many people and no rules
8
8.2
A noisy scene where people are confused and out of control
3
7.5
A sudden violent disturbance in a country or society
2
8.4
A very large, messy situation that is hard to fix
1
7.9
A sudden time when many people lose control and chaos starts
1
9.9
A confusing, chaotic situation with many mixed-up parts
Sudden noisy chaos starts
A sudden violent crowd event that causes confusion and danger
A situation with things all over and people confused
A confused, messy situation where plans go wrong
In a state of complete confusion because of a mistake or bad planning
A situation that suddenly goes wrong after working well
Antonyms
How Chaotic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase blends 'hell' used metaphorically for extreme disorder with 'broke loose' meaning 'escaped' or 'became uncontrolled', so the overall sense of sudden eruption of chaos can be conceptually derived from the parts. However, the metaphorical use of 'hell' and the idiomatic framing make the meaning not fully predictable for an average B1 learner who only knows the literal meanings, so prior exposure helps.
Etymology
All hell broke loose comes from a strong picture: imagine the gates of hell bursting open and trouble pouring out everywhere. That's why it means a sudden burst of 'chaos' or 'disorder'.