ruction
nounUK, US /ˈɹʌk.ʃən/
Etymology 1825, of unknown origin, possibly from eruption or insurrection. Possibly related to the Irish insurrection of 1798.
1
A noisy quarrel or fight.
- “If you do want to go home, here’s your whip. Don’t fall off. Say to her you wanted it, or there might be ructions.”1907 April, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter XII, in The Longest Journey, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I (Cambridge), page 144:
- She could see there were going to be ructions. Sure enough there'd be a scene between them, when Sebastian found what Tilly had been up to.1947, Christopher Sheridan, Bread and circuses, page 52:
4 more examples
- Although she acknowledged that the development of an opera house had caused considerable ructions in Australia, she nevertheless implied that its construction was a sort of coming-of-age for the rough antipodeans2002, Ruth Bereson, The Operatic State: Cultural Policy and the Opera House, page 148:
- While the U.S. government had a huge fiscal deficit, similar to Greece's, the financial ructions emanating from Athens sent nervous money flocking to the United States, not away.2013, Alan S. Blinder, After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, ..., page 381:
- Dad drove and Mum commented on Dad's driving; not too much, but just enough to occasionally lead to ructions.2014, Murray C. Morison, Time Sphere:
- […]the geopolitical ructions caused by Donald Trump's muscle-flexing in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin's military aggression and tense economic relations with China.2026 June 13, Patrick Jenkins, “Lunch with the FT: Thomas Buberl”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:
- Related terms
- ruckus