unrest

plural unrests

1. uncountableusuallyA state of trouble, confusion and turbulence, especially in a political context; a time of riots, demonstrations and protests.

   What words are these have fall’n from me? ⁠Can calm despair and wild unrest ⁠Be tenants of a single breast, Or sorrow such a changeling be?

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 26

   1 more example

   Few expect the unrest to stop anytime soon. The government may hope to outflank the protest movement by painting them as unwilling to accept compromise, but even some of Lam’s allies have publicly said that the withdrawal was too little, too late.

   2019 September 4, James Griffith, “Hong Kong government’s attempt to outflank protesters is doomed to fail”, in CNN

2. uncountableusuallySomething that troubles or confuses; that which causes unrest.

   In her pyjamas, Sadie turned back the bedclothes to a single sheet, and settled down under it with a sigh of content; the languors of a body untroubled by mental unrests were a reward for the day's exertions.

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 8