Whether you call it a brouhaha, a hubbub, or a hullabaloo, it’s a tumultuous situation. When using one of these synonyms for “uproar,” there’s cause for commotion. You wouldn’t refer to a slight miscommunication as a brouhaha; the word is better suited for an outsized set of circumstances. The secondary definition for “brouhaha” states that the excitement is far beyond the importance of a situation, so you might also use it when someone is being overly dramatic. “Brouhaha” came into English in the late 19th century from French, but it may have originated with the Hebrew “bārūkh habbā’,” meaning “blessed be he who enters,” based on the frequent use in the synagogue of a passage containing these words.