Other forms: commotions
A commotion is a sudden burst of noise and confusion — voices raised, a chair going over, everybody turning to look at once. The kind of thing that makes a whole café stop talking.
Commotion nearly always comes with an article: "there was a commotion at the back", "what's all this commotion?". You cause a commotion, hear a commotion, or come running at the sound of one. It is noise plus disorder together, so a loud party is not a commotion but a fight at a loud party is. And it stays fairly light — for serious public trouble the words are unrest, disturbance or riot.
1nouncommotionA sudden noisy disturbance, usually with people moving and shouting.
“A commotion in the street brought her to the window.”
synonyms: disturbance, uproar
2nounconfusionNoisy confusion or excitement in general.
“In all the commotion nobody noticed him leave.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Also accepted in games: disturbance
Commotion came through Middle French commocion from Latin commōtiōnem, the noun built on the verb commoveō. The -tiō ending on the back of it is the same one behind motion and emotion. That is what a commotion is: a roomful of movement, all at the same moment.
Latin
commōtiō
Middle French
commocion
English, today
commotion
From Middle French commocion, from Latin commōtiō. From Middle French commocion, from Latin commōtiōnem, accusative singular of commōtiō, from commoveō + -tiō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA