ado

American  

[uh-doo] / əˈdu /

noun

1. busy activity or bustle; fuss; bother.

   Much more ado has been made over this allegation than the facts warrant.

   Synonyms:

   uproar, turmoil, noise, hubbub, excitement, confusion, commotion, to-do, flurry

   Antonyms:

   tranquility, peace, calm

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idioms

1. without further ado, without additional preamble, preliminaries, or other delay.

   Well, without further ado, let's get down to the details of our master plan.

ADO ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. accumulated day off

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ado ² British  

/ əˈduː /

noun

1. bustling activity; fuss; bother; delay (esp in the phrases without more ado, with much ado )

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Related Words

Ado, to-do, commotion, stir, tumult suggest a great deal of fuss and noise. Ado implies a confused bustle of activity, a considerable emotional upset, and a great deal of talking: Much Ado About Nothing. To-do, now more commonly used, may mean merely excitement and noise and may be pleasant or unpleasant: a great to-do over a movie star. Commotion suggests a noisy confusion and babble: commotion at the scene of an accident. Stir suggests excitement and noise, with a hint of emotional cause: The report was followed by a tremendous stir in the city. Tumult suggests disorder with noise and violence: a tumult as the mob stormed the Bastille.

Etymology

Origin of ado

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English (north) at do, a phrase equivalent to at “to” (from Old Norse, which used at with the infinitive) + do do ¹

Example Sentences

Without further ado, here are those ten surprises.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 5, 2025

So this new crop of concerns might turn out to be much ado about nothing.

From Barron's • Dec. 4, 2025

Much ado has been made over the lopsided mating pool of China, where the recent census showed a surplus of 30 million single men.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2025

Mark McAfee, the farmer and raw milk advocate whose Raw Farm dairy outside Fresno produced the contaminated product, told NPR in May that concerns about raw milk amounted to “much ado about zero.”

From Slate • Dec. 4, 2024

Seated, Emily gave an efficient shake of her milk carton and asked without further ado, “Do you like to study?”

From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord