troublemaker

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈtrʌbəlˌmeɪkər/ UK /ˈtrʌbəlˌmeɪkə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a person who habitually causes difficulty or disturbance

The teacher kept the troublemaker at the front of the class.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who habitually... agitator instigatorrabble-rousermischief-makerprovocateurfirebrand

Opposites

peacemakerconciliator

Word family

Related forms trouble troublesome make

Etymology

A compound of trouble (from Old French trubler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulare, from Latin turbula 'disorderly crowd') + maker (from Old English macian 'to make').

turbula Latin macian Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# troublemaker

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtrʌbəlˌmeɪkər/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtrʌbəlˌmeɪkə/

## Meanings
1. a person who habitually causes difficulty or disturbance

## Examples
- The teacher kept the troublemaker at the front of the class.

## Synonyms
- agitator
- instigator
- rabble-rouser
- mischief-maker
- provocateur
- firebrand

## Antonyms
- peacemaker
- conciliator

## Related Forms
- trouble
- troublesome
- make

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: turbula
- Root: macian

## Etymology
A compound of trouble (from Old French trubler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulare, from Latin turbula 'disorderly crowd') + maker (from Old English macian 'to make').

## AI Etymology
Troublemaker is a compound of trouble (from Old French trubler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulare, from Latin turbula 'disorderly crowd') + maker (from Old English macian 'to make'). The historical chain includes Latin turbula and Old English macian. The quoted older senses, "disorderly crowd" and "to make", supply the semantic anchors for troublemaker. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word troublemaker carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a person who habitually causes difficulty or disturbance". Related English forms include trouble, troublesome, and make. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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