hubbub
noun

- a loud noise, especially caused by a lot of people all talking at the same time

- general excitement and activity

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

It has often been remarked that the early Celtic inhabitants of Britain contributed very little to the supply of English words. Perhaps this is no surprise, given the difficult relations over the centuries between people of Germanic and Celtic stock in England and Ireland.

Notwithstanding, the word hubbub is probably related to "ub ub ubub", a Scots Gaelic interjection expressing dislike. It was first recorded in 1555 in the phrase "Irish hubbub" and then meant "the confused shouting of a crowd."

In "The Innocents Abroad", Mark Twain's classic about his travels throughout Europe, he gives a nice example describing the Can Can in Paris:

"Shouts, laughter, furious music, a bewildering chaos of darting and intermingling forms, stormy jerking and snatching of gay dresses, bobbing beads, flying arms, lightning flashes of white-stockinged calves and dainty slippers in the air, and then a grand final rush, riot, a terrific HUBBUB, and a wild stampede!"

Adapted from The American Heritage Dictionary

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SYNONYMS

ado, agitation, brouhaha, clamour, clatter, commotion, confusion, din, disorder, disturbance, flap, fuss, hullabaloo, hurly-burly, noise, pandemonium, racket, rumpus, stir, tumult, turmoil, uproar

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ANTONYMS

peace and quiet, silence, serenity, tranquillity, quietness, calmness

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PRACTICE OWAD in a conversation:

"With all the HUBBUB in the office, don't you find it difficult to concentrate?"