as in reckless
having or showing a lack of concern for the consequences of one's actions
a harum-scarum dash through the crowded terminal to make the flight
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in frantically
in a confused and reckless manner
tossed everything harum-scarum from the closet in a desperate attempt to find her shoes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of harum-scarum
Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Adjective
Years of harum-scarum borrowing and spending combined with economic wallops from the Covid-19 pandemic, soaring interest rates and inflation helped drive up Kenya’s debt to $80 billion.
—Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harum-scarum
Adjective
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Hall is charged with reckless homicide, with modifiers of domestic abuse and use of a dangerous weapon, records show.—
Mitchell Willetts,
Kansas City Star,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Its insularity has shielded it from the reckless overdevelopment that has scarred much of the nearby Costa Blanca.—
Miquel Ros,
CNN Money,
7 Oct. 2025
Adverb
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Out the window, the tops of the trees move frantically in the wind, a wind which descends from the wilder mountains further north.—
Hazlitt,
Hazlitt,
8 Oct. 2025
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As much as the action, which is tightly cut and usually alternates confidently between characters frantically on-the-move and other characters huddled in claustrophobic spaces, the storylines are held together by the performances.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The first season followed 17-year-old Ethan (Cantona James) seeking a way out of the Southside’s bloody cycle of gang violence through spinning, a South African extreme motorsport that features drivers performing daredevil stunts.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
9 Oct. 2025
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Soon enough, the hazardous conditions overwhelm the area and Kevin has to get creative with maps and his driving skills, plus embrace a daredevil spirit, for even a chance of making it out alive with his young charges.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
2 Oct. 2025
Adverb
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Lamb's Quarters Lamb's quarters is a wild-growing green that's very high in calcium.—
Jillian Kubala,
Health,
7 Oct. 2025
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Our first stop is in a wild-looking stretch 200 yards south of the railroad tracks and State Street.—
Paul A. Smith,
Journal Sentinel,
2 Jan. 2023
Adjective
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Scientists and veterinarians teamed up for a daring yet delicate operation to remove a plastic strap from around a sea lion’s neck.—
Daniel Wine,
CNN Money,
7 Oct. 2025
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Yet his film, even in its omissions, brims with strategic ingenuity and daring, cinematic and political—to fight other films’ empty fantasies with substantial ones, to battle other advocates’ pernicious myths with virtuous ones.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
7 Oct. 2025
Adverb
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Expect the Wizards to continue building that draft pick war chest during the season, likely in deals that send out contributors such as McCollum, Middleton, Kispert and the wildly underrated Justin Champagnie.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
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The exposure was going to change wildly in the course of the eclipse, and totality would last only a few minutes.—
Sarah Botstein,
The Atlantic,
8 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Harum-scarum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harum-scarum. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.
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