bouleversement

n.

1. A violent uproar; a tumult.
2. A reversal.

[French, from Old French bouleverser, to overturn : boule, ball (from Latin bulla) + verser, to overturn (from Old French , from Latin versāre, frequentative of vertere, to turn).]

(BOO-luh-vers-MAWN)

noun
1. Reversal.
2. Violent uproar, upheaval, or disorder.

Etymology
From French bouleversement (upheaval), from bouleverser (to overturn), from boule (ball) + verser (to turn).

Usage
"The merger of the Chapters and Indigo bookstore chains began as a hostile takeover, a David-and-Goliath bouleversement in which small, scrappy Indigo toppled huge, swollen Chapters with a well-aimed shot." — Rebecca Wigod; At Last, Canada Becomes a Genre; Vancouver Sun (Canada); Aug 25, 2001.

"The timing of this week's bouleversement in Brussels was rotten. It is less than a month since Prime Minister Tony Blair decided to break cover, stand up in the House of Commons, launch his 'national changeover plan,' and make it plain to anyone who had ever doubted it that he really did intend to lead Britain into the promised land of the euro, the single European currency. After a long period of cautious equivocation, the prime minister had, in his own words, 'shifted up a gear' ..." — Walter Bagehot; Moses Blair And His Promised Euroland; The Economist (London, UK); Mar 20, 1999.

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[F. fr. OF bouleverser, to overturn]  /boole VER suh MA(n/
1) a violent disturbance; tumult  2) a turning upsidedown: reversal