all hell breaks loose

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all hell breaks loose (simple past all hell broke loose)

1. (idiomatic) The situation becomes chaotic or characterized by conflict or rage.
   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Came not all hell broke loose?

   • 1992 August 19, “Beckel, Barnes and Rollins Discuss the Republican Convention”, in CBS Morning:

     I think it's kind of fun because, had Hillary Clinton spoken at the Democratic Convention, all hell would have broken loose.

   • 2023 November 26, Rory Carroll, Lisa O'Carroll, “‘Remember who we are’: riots, race, and the end of the ‘Irish welcome’”, in The Observer‎, →ISSN:

     It was a shocking attack, and within hours all hell had broken loose.

• Both as a sentence and a clause this term allows all normal conjugated forms of the verb.