kerfuffle
noun
J. K. RowlingBelinda Luscombe
Did you know?
The Evolution of Kerfuffle
Fuffle is an old Scottish verb that means “to muss” or “to throw into disarray”—in other words, to (literally) ruffle someone’s (figurative) feathers. The addition of car-, possibly from a Scottish Gaelic word meaning “wrong” or “awkward,” didn’t change its meaning much. In the 19th century carfuffle, with its variant curfuffle, became a noun, which in the 20th century was embraced by a broader population of English speakers and standardized to kerfuffle, referring to a more figurative feather-ruffling. There is some kerfuffle among language historians over how the altered spelling came to be favored. One theory holds that it might have been influenced by onomatopoeic words like kerplunk that imitate the sound of a falling object hitting a surface.
Synonyms
- ado
- alarums and excursions
- ballyhoo
- blather
- bluster
- bobbery
- bother
- bustle
- clatter
- clutter [chiefly dialect]
- coil
- commotion
- corroboree [Australian]
- disturbance
- do [chiefly dialect]
- foofaraw
- fun
- furor
- furore
- fuss
- helter-skelter
- hoo-ha
- hoo-hah
- hoopla
- hubble-bubble
- hubbub
- hullabaloo
- hurly
- hurly-burly
- hurricane
- hurry
- hurry-scurry
- hurry-skurry
- moil
- pandemonium
- pother
- row
- ruckus
- ruction
- rumpus
- shindy
- splore [Scottish]
- squall
- stew
- stir
- storm
- to-do
- tumult
- turmoil
- uproar
- welter
- whirl
- williwaw
- zoo
Examples of kerfuffle in a Sentence
Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 20 Mar. 2024
While Hill came up short of competing for the championship last year after a Martinsville kerfuffle with then-teammate Sheldon Creed, things are different this year.
—Joseph Wolkin, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
The Clippers outscored the Warriors 36-19 after an on-court kerfuffle involving Mason Plumlee and Brandin Podziemski.
—Shayna Rubin, The Mercury News, 16 Feb. 2024
The kerfuffle has likely led to a decline in Russian crude exports to India, currently lurking at an 11-month low of 1.5 million bpd.
—Gaurav Sharma, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
In November 2022, a month after the kerfuffle began, two businessmen in the toilet industry agreed to donate a modular bathroom and pay the installation costs, cutting the price tag by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
—Heather Knight, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2024
Any sense that Daniels’ ongoing kerfuffle with the 45th President of the United States has been a net positive for her life is put to rest in Sarah Gibson’s new documentary Stormy, premiering at SXSW ahead of a March 18 launch on Peacock.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2024
Another stressful element was the kerfuffle around Robert Downey Jr., who joined the cast in its fourth season, as a fellow lawyer and love interest.
—Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2024
Questions of whether or not high heels are required of women at Cannes have persisted after a 2015 kerfuffle in which several women were denied entrance to the premiere of Todd Haynes' Carol for wearing flats.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 9 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'kerfuffle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
alteration of carfuffle, from Scots car- (probably from Scottish Gaelic cearr wrong, awkward) + fuffle to become disheveled
1908, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to kerfuffle
Favorite Words From Foreign Languages
Karaoke, chutzpah, kerfuffle & more
The Words of the Week - 2/19/2021
Some of the words that defined the week ending February 19, 2021
Trending: Kerfuffle
Lookups increased 500% after Christie used the word to describe the response to Trump's attack on Judge Curiel
Podcast
Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!
Dictionary Entries Near kerfuffle
Cite this Entry
“Kerfuffle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kerfuffle. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
More from Merriam-Webster on kerfuffle
Britannica English: Translation of kerfuffle for Arabic Speakers
Share