Mayhem is violent disorder and chaos. When a stampede of spooked cattle crashes through a town square, knocking over carts and scattering people in all directions, that's mayhem. When a food fight erupts in a school cafeteria with plates flying and chairs toppling, that's mayhem too (though hopefully nobody gets hurt).

The word captures destruction and violence, even when accidental. Mayhem involves things breaking, people scattering in panic, and situations spiraling out of control. A tornado creates mayhem when it tears through a neighborhood. A band of Vikings raiding a coastal village in medieval times brought mayhem with them. During the Boston Tea Party in 1773, American colonists created mayhem by dumping 342 chests of British tea into the harbor.

You might hear someone say a party “descended into mayhem” when things got wildly out of control, or that younger siblings “caused mayhem” in the kitchen while trying to bake cookies unsupervised, leaving flour everywhere and eggs broken on the floor.