pell-mell

adverb

ˌpel-ˈmel 

1

: in mingled confusion or disorder

papers strewn pell-mell on the desk

2

: in confused haste

ran pell-mell for the door

pell-mell adjective or noun

Did you know?

The word pell-mell was probably formed through a process called reduplication. This process—which involves the repetition of a word or part of a word, with often a slight change in its form—also generated the terms flip-flop, chitchat, and shilly-shally, the last of which comes from a single-word compression of the question “Shall I?” For pell-mell, the process is believed to have occurred long ago: our word traces to a Middle French word of the same meaning, pelemele, which comes from the Old French word pesle mesle, likely a product of reduplication from the Old French word mesle, a form of mesler, meaning “to mix” or “to mingle.”

Synonyms

• amok
• amuck
• berserk
• berserkly
• frantically
• frenetically
• frenziedly
• harum-scarum
• hectically
• helter-skelter
• madly
• wild
• wildly

Word History

Etymology

Middle French pelemele

First Known Use

1590, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

pell-mell

adverb

ˈpel-ˈmel

1

: in confusion or disorder

2

: in great haste

pell-mell adjective