bouleversement

boul•e•verse•ment (bool-uh-vers-MAHn)  n

Definition:
1. a reversal
2. a violent uproar; a tumult
Origin:
1782; French, from Old French bouleverser "to overturn", from  boule "ball",  from Latin bulla + verser, "to overturn", from Old French, from Latin versre, frequentative of vertere, to turn; from PIE wer

Related:
Related Words: bowl, bullet; versed, versus

Sentence Examples:
• He tried to imagine himself in Hartley's place, Hartley in his, and he gave a little shiver. He knew that if that bouleversement were actually to take place he would be as glad for his friend's sake as poor Hartley was now for his, but he knew also that the smile of congratulation would be a grimace of almost intolerable pain, and so he knew what Hartley's black hour must be like. - Jason, Justus Miles Forman
• It is needless to dwell upon the chagrin of Honora's maternal grandfather, Howard Allison Esquire, over this turn of affairs, this unexpected bouleversement, as he spoke of it in private to his friends in his Parisian club.  - A Modern Chronicle, Winston Churchill
• In the first place, because first in order of realisation, there is its value as a mental bouleversement, a revolution in ideas, a sort of moral and intellectual cold shower-bath, a nervous shock to the system generally. The patient or pupil gets so thoroughly upset in all his preconceived ideas; he finds all round him a life so different from the life to which he has been accustomed in colder regions, that he wakes up suddenly, rubs his eyes hard, and begins to look about him for some general explanation of the world he lives in.  - Science in Arcady, Grant Allen


Sources: Free Dictionary

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