hurly-burlies

noun

plural of hurly-burly
as in disturbances
a state of noisy, confused activity lost sight of his children in all the hurly-burly of the fair

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hurly-burlies
  1. disturbances
  2. commotions
  3. stirs
  4. turmoils
  5. noises
  6. fun
  7. furors
  8. rackets
Noun
  • Officers say the changes are aimed at addressing a recent rise in overnight disturbances while reassuring visitors and businesses that Old Sacramento remains a safe destination.
    — Ashley Sharp, CBS News, 31 July 2026
  • They are identified as brain activity accompanied with multisensory disturbances and sometimes don’t even cause the signature intense pain.
    — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 30 July 2026
Definition of disturbances
Noun
  • Over the past year, men’s ski jumping has been marred by Norway’s cheating scandal and more recent genital manipulation rumors, which has become one of the early commotions of the Milano-Cortina Games.
    — Sara Germano, Sportico.com, 8 Feb. 2026
Definition of commotions
Noun
  • Refrigerated pie crust helps this pie come together with just a few stirs of the whisk.
    — Patricia S York, Southern Living, 19 Apr. 2026
Definition of stirs
Noun
  • About two couples, connected and dependent on one another, raising their kids alongside each other, facing the same turmoils, the same existential questions.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Mayer and Strong offer a broad pop-history lesson, in which the same tensions and turmoils churn on and on in their terrible cycle throughout the decades; the only thing that’s changed are the aesthetics.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Definition of turmoils
Noun
  • The training will include blank ammunition and training rounds, along with a significant presence of emergency vehicles and loud noises, police said.
    — Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 31 July 2026
  • Despite his crude humor and lewd noises, this goofy guy is admittedly kind of cute.
    — Kelsey Legg, ABC News, 31 July 2026
Definition of noises
Noun
  • My favorite way to spend an afternoon, though, was borrowing one of the hotel's bicycles and pedaling around South of Fifth, where quiet residential streets quickly give way to cafés, the marina, and the fun buzz of Ocean Drive.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 July 2026
  • His goal, going back to the beginning, was just for people to have fun listening his music.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 29 July 2026
Definition of fun
Noun
  • There are several other ongoing furors about the president’s propensity to use his power in unusually personal ways.
    — Niall Stanage, The Hill, 5 Oct. 2025
Definition of furors
Noun
  • The allegation was just part of a drumbeat of US criticism over the cartels’ political protection rackets.
    — Mary Beth Sheridan, CNN Money, 25 July 2026
  • This system means players adjust their tactics (and often their string tensions on their rackets) through each stretch.
    — James Hansen, New York Times, 20 July 2026
Definition of rackets
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Hurly-burlies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hurly-burlies. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

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