Chaos

Welcome to the Voice of America’s News Words, where we talk about words in the news.

This short word can mean big trouble:

Chaos.

Lawmakers return to Washington with urgent domestic priorities, like extending federal spending authority and averting another government shutdown, but with an increasingly-wary eye towards conflict and chaos from Eastern Europe to the Middle East.

Chaos is the opposite of orderly.

It means a place is very disorganized, or a complete mess.

It is a place in which events, or behavior, are not under control, not a good thing.

So the next time you hear the word chaos, you will know what this News Word means!

And you can use it in a conversation.