helter-skelter
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About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.) are now displayed on one page.1hel·ter–skel·ter
adverb \ˌhel-tər-ˈskel-tər\Definition of HELTER-SKELTER
1
: in undue haste, confusion, or disorder <ran helter–skelter, getting in each other's way — F. V. W. Mason>
2
: in a haphazard manner
See Origin of HELTER-SKELTER
perhaps from Middle English skelten to come, go
First Known Use: 1593
Related to HELTER-SKELTER
- Synonyms
- amok (or amuck), berserk, berserkly, frantically, frenetically, frenziedly, harum-scarum, hectically, madly, pell-mell, wild, wildly
- Antonyms
- methodically, systematically
2helter–skelter
nounDefinition of HELTER-SKELTER
1
: a disorderly confusion : turmoil
2
British : a spiral slide around a tower at an amusement park
First Known Use of HELTER-SKELTER
1713
Related to HELTER-SKELTER
- Synonyms
- ado, alarums and excursions, ballyhoo, blather, bluster, bobbery, bother, bustle, clatter, clutter [chiefly dialect], coil, corroboree [Australian], disturbance, do [chiefly dialect], foofaraw, fun, furor, furore, fuss, helter-skelter, hoo-ha (also hoo-hah), hoopla, hubble-bubble, hubbub, hullabaloo, hurly, hurly-burly, hurricane, hurry, hurry-scurry (or hurry-skurry), kerfuffle [chiefly British], moil, pandemonium, pother, row, ruckus, ruction, rumpus, shindy, splore [Scottish], squall, stew, stir, storm, to-do, tumult, turmoil, uproar, welter, whirl, williwaw, zoo
3helter–skelter
adjectiveDefinition of HELTER-SKELTER
1
: confusedly hurried : precipitate
2
: marked by a lack of order or plan : haphazard <the helter–skelter arrangement of the papers, all mussed and frayed — Jean Stafford>
First Known Use of HELTER-SKELTER
1708
Related to HELTER-SKELTER
- Synonyms
- cursory, drive-by, flying, gadarene, headlong, helter-skelter, hurried, overhasty, pell-mell, precipitate, precipitous, rash, rushed
- Antonyms
- deliberate, unhurried, unrushed
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