kerfuffle

K5E1R1F4U1F4F4L1E1
UK/kəˈfʌfəl/US/kɚˈfʌfəl/

noun

A disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion, or tumult.

Meanings

nounkerfuffle (plural kerfuffles)

plural kerfuffles · alternative cufuffle · alternative cuffuffle · alternative curfuffle · alternative gefuffle · alternative kafuffle · alternative kerfluff · alternative kerfluffle · alternative kurfuffle · alternative fuffle

  1. CommonwealthinformalA disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion, or tumult.

    There's been a bit of a kerfuffle the past couple days over something Sarah Palin said about Paul Revere.

    2011 June 6, Mark Memmott, “Sarah Palin's Had Her Say; Now Let's Hear From Paul Revere”, in The Two-Way, National Public Radio
    2 more examples

    You know all this kerfuffle about Jordan and Peter Andre, and how you don’t know if they’re really splitting up or it’s just an act[…]

    2009 May 22, Stuart Heritage, “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 15 Apr 2024

    The debate seemed innocuous—a minor kerfuffle, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved and moved on from.

    2023 May 28, Nadia Asparouhova, “Remembering GitHub's Office, a Monument to Tech Culture”, in Wired, →ISSN

    Synonyms: brouhaha, donnybrook, fracas, hubbub, hullabaloo, mess, racket

verbkerfuffle (third-person singular simple present kerfuffles, present participle kerfuffling, simple past and past participle kerfuffled)

present singular third person kerfuffles · participle present kerfuffling · participle past kerfuffled · past kerfuffled · alternative cufuffle · alternative cuffuffle · alternative curfuffle · alternative gefuffle · alternative kafuffle · alternative kerfluff · alternative kerfluffle · alternative kurfuffle · alternative fuffle

  1. CommonwealthIrelandUKinformaltransitiveTo make a disorderly outburst or commotion.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion, or tumult.

More synonyms by meaning

nouna disorderly outburst or tumult

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Scotscurfuffle
  2. Englishkerfuffle

Probably from Scots curfuffle, equivalent to ker- + fuffle, or related to Irish cíor thuathail (“confusion, bewilderment”). Similar to modern Welsh cythrwfl (“uproar, trouble, agitation”)

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian суматоха
  • суматоха (sumatoha)disorderly outburst
Catalan aldarull, commoció
  • aldarulldisorderly outburst
  • commociódisorderly outburst
Chinese Mandarin 混亂 /混乱, 動亂 /动乱
  • 混亂 /混乱 (hùnluàn)disorderly outburst
  • 動亂 /动乱 (dòngluàn)disorderly outburst
  • 鬧騰 /闹腾 (nàoteng)disorderly outburst
  • 吵鬧 /吵闹 (chǎonào)disorderly outburst
Czech povyk, rámus
  • povykdisorderly outburst
  • rámusdisorderly outburst
  • meladisorderly outburst
  • tahanicedisorderly outburst
Dutch tumult
  • tumultdisorderly outburst
Finnish hälinä, hässäkkä
  • hälinädisorderly outburst
  • hässäkkädisorderly outburst
French désordre, tumulte
  • désordredisorderly outburst
  • tumultedisorderly outburst
  • brouhahadisorderly outburst
German Wirbel, Aufruhr
  • Wirbeldisorderly outburst
  • Aufruhrdisorderly outburst
  • Theaterdisorderly outburst
  • Durcheinanderdisorderly outburst
Norwegian Bokmål tumult, ståhei
  • tumultdisorderly outburst
  • ståheidisorderly outburst
Portuguese bafafá, distúrbio
  • bafafádisorderly outburst
  • distúrbiodisorderly outburst
  • tumultodisorderly outburst
Russian сумато́ха
  • сумато́ха (sumatóxa)disorderly outburst
Spanish disturbio, descalzaperros
  • disturbiodisorderly outburst
  • descalzaperrosdisorderly outburst
  • pitotedisorderly outburst
Swedish ståhej, uppståndelse
  • ståhejdisorderly outburst
  • uppståndelsedisorderly outburst

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with kerfuffle

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

kerfuffle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kerfuffle

MLA

“kerfuffle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kerfuffle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kerfuffle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kerfuffle.

Source: kerfuffle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.