maelstrom
noun
Harper's
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The original Maelstrom, also known as the Mostenstraumen or Moskstraumen, is a channel located off the northwest coast of Norway that has dangerous tidal currents. English speakers became familiar with its (often exaggerated) perils through literature—Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story called “A Descent into the Maelstrom,” and Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea has—spoiler alert—a maelstrom at its climax. The English word arrived by way of the Dutch word maelstrom, which today is spelled maalstroom. (The Dutch word combines the verb malen, meaning “to grind,” and the noun strom, “stream.”) English speakers have applied the word to any powerful whirlpool since the 16th century, and by the 19th century they’d begun to apply it figuratively to things or situations resembling such maelstroms in turbulence or confusion.
Examples of maelstrom in a Sentence
David Opie, IndieWire, 18 Feb. 2025
Season 17 has thus far been a maelstrom of conflict, between Jewels vs. Onya, Suzie vs. the World, and a slew of other minor spats that on other seasons would be the most notable fight of the episode.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025
Horwitz’s abrupt death plunged Brooks not just into confusion and profound grief, but also into the disorienting maelstrom of tasks that are demanded of those left behind.
—Karen Campbell, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Feb. 2025
The latter came crashing down as well, trapping dozens of men, women and children beneath a maelstrom of steel and masonry.
—Laura Kiniry, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Maelstrom.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maelstrom. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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maelstrom
noun
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