tur·bu·lent

(tûr′byə-lənt)

adj.

1. Moving rapidly or violently: turbulent rapids.

2. Characterized by disorder, commotion, or unrest: a turbulent period in history.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin turbulentus, from turba, turmoil; see turbid.]

tur′bu·lent·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

turbulent

(ˈtɜːbjʊlənt)

adj

1. being in a state of turbulence

2. wild or insubordinate; unruly

[C16: from Latin turbulentus, from turba confusion]

ˈturbulently adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tur•bu•lent

(ˈtɜr byə lənt)

adj.

1. being in a state of agitation or tumult; disturbed.

2. characterized by, showing, or causing disturbance, disorder, etc.

3. characterized by turbulence; tempestuous: turbulent waters.

[1530–40; < Latin turbulentus restless =turb(a) turmoil + -ulentus -ulent]

tur′bu•lent•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	turbulent - characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination; "effects of the struggle will be violent and disruptive"; "riotous times"; "these troubled areas"; "the tumultuous years of his administration"; "a turbulent and unruly childhood" disruptive, tumultuous, riotous, troubled unquiet - characterized by unrest or disorder; "unquiet days of riots"; "following the assassination of Martin Luter King ours was an unquiet nation"; "spent an unquiet night tossing and turning"
	2.	turbulent - (of a liquid) agitated vigorously; in a state of turbulence; "the river's roiling current"; "turbulent rapids" roiling, roily, churning, roiled agitated - physically disturbed or set in motion; "the agitated mixture foamed and bubbled"

turbulent

adjective

1. wild, violent, disorderly, agitated, rebellious, unruly, rowdy, boisterous, anarchic, tumultuous, lawless, unbridled, riotous, undisciplined, seditious, mutinous, ungovernable, uproarious, refractory, obstreperous, insubordinate six turbulent years of rows and reconciliations

2. stormy, rough, raging, tempestuous, boiling, disordered, furious, unsettled, foaming, unstable, agitated, tumultuous, choppy, blustery I had to have a boat that could handle turbulent seas.
stormy still, quiet, calm, smooth, peaceful, glassy, unruffled

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

turbulent

adjective

1. Violently disturbed or agitated, as by storms:

dirty, heavy, raging, roiled, roily, rough, rugged, stormy, tempestuous, tumultuous, ugly, violent, wild.

2. Marked by unrest or disturbance:

stormy, tempestuous, tumultuous.

Translations

عاصِف

bouřlivývzrušený

ausgelassen stürmisch turbulent

turbulento

agité inquiet

ólgandi; æstur

turbolento turbolenza

sukūrys

brāzmainsnevaldāmsvētrains

turbulent voldsomt urolig

турбулентный

azgınçalkantılıfırtınalı

动乱的

turbulent

[ˈtɜːbjʊlənt] ADJ

1. (= confused, changing) [place, relationship] → turbulento
these are turbulent times → esta es una época turbulenta

2. (= unruly) [person, character] → problemático; [crowd] → alborotado, soliviantado

3. (= unsettled) [water, sea, air] → turbulento

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

turbulent

[ˈtɜː^rbjʊlənt] adj

[times, days, years, career] → mouvementé(e); [region] → agité(e)

[sea] → agité(e); [weather conditions] → agité(e); [air currents] → fort(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

turbulent

adj → stürmisch; person, crowd → ungestüm, wild; emotions → aufgewühlt; career, period, world, politics → turbulent

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

turbulent

[ˈtɜːbjʊlənt] adj → turbolento/a; (sea) → agitato/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

turbulent

(ˈtəːbjulənt) adjective

violently disturbed or confused. The seas are turbulent; the turbulent years of war.

ˈturbulently adverb

ˈturbulence noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

A TURBULENT Person was brought before a Judge to be tried for an assault with intent to commit murder, and it was proved that he had been variously obstreperous without apparent provocation, had affected the peripheries of several luckless fellow-citizens with the trunk of a small tree, and subsequently cleaned out the town.

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All this is true, if time stood still; which contrariwise moveth so round, that a froward retention of custom, is as turbulent a thing as an innovation; and they that reverence too much old times, are but a scorn to the new.

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Some intrepid larches waved green pennons in the very midst of the turbulent water, here and there a veteran lay with his many-summered head abased in the rocky course of the stream, and here was a young foolhardy beech that had climbed within a dozen yards of the rampart.

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Our soldiers had recourse to their muskets, and four of them putting the mouths of their pieces to the heads of some of the most obstinate and turbulent, struck them with such a terror, that all the clamour was stilled in an instant; none received any hurt but the Moor who had been the occasion of the tumult.

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A turbulent faction in a State may easily suppose itself able to contend with the friends to the government in that State; but it can hardly be so infatuated as to imagine itself a match for the combined efforts of the Union.

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There came a turbulent stream of men across the fields.

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It is a great doctor for sore hearts and sore heads, too, your ship's routine, which I have seen soothe - at least for a time - the most turbulent of spirits.

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She became what would have been called a fine creature; her aspect was fair and arresting; her soul that of a woman whom the turbulent experiences of the last year or two had quite failed to demoralize.

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Nowhere do we find more vividly portrayed the psychology of the persons that lived in that turbulent period embraced between the years 1912 and

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Being subjects either of an absolute or limited monarchy, they have endeavored to heighten the advantages, or palliate the evils of those forms, by placing in comparison the vices and defects of the republican, and by citing as specimens of the latter the turbulent democracies of ancient Greece and modern Italy.

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But he smiled to perceive that this governor's example would awaken no turbulent ambition in the lower orders; for it was a king's gracious boon alone that made the ship-carpenter a ruler.

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A steamboat had never yet stemmed its turbulent current.

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