1
as in hurried
acting or done with excessive or careless speed
when the theater doors opened, there was a pell-mell rush for the best seats
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in chaotic
lacking in order, neatness, and often cleanliness
pell-mell piles of books everywhere in the professor's library
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in frantically
in a confused and reckless manner
tossed stuff pell-mell into the dorm room
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in hastily
with excessive or careless speed
ran pell-mell down the road to get help
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pell-mell
Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
People ran pell-mell outside, sped away in cars with no clear destination, went to church, or just phoned the police or radio station to hyperventilate.
—Nicolas Rapold, airmail.news, 23 Nov. 2024
Abe and Mary are part Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, part George and Martha, part the old vaudevillians George Burns and Gracie Allen, all running together pell-mell toward the Copacabana.
—Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 12 July 2024
Administration officials don’t see this situation as similar to October 2022, when the intelligence community saw a significant possibility Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons to avert a collapse of Russia’s front lines in Ukraine and prevent a pell-mell retreat.
—David Ignatius, Washington Post, 21 June 2024
Ultimately, the more naturalistic second half — which has a realistic set with chairs and tables, delivered in a clunky black-out transition by intrusive stagehands — gets as sharp and loud as the pell-mell sounds-and-lights first half.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 12 Apr. 2024
Only a few of them stopped with remainder racing pell-mell through the intersection as approaching cars on Charles braked abruptly.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 25 Apr. 2024
Ministry is not nearly as proficient as Chad Stahelski’s John Wick 4 or Matthias Schweighöfer’s Army of Thieves, but the pell-mell combat scenes are consistently cartoonish.
—Armond White, National Review, 19 Apr. 2024
America saw a pell-mell downsizing of gas-guzzling vehicles and a simultaneous ramping up of imports of fuel-efficient Japanese cars.
—Jim Krane, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2023
Adverb
Second, the pell-mell rush to be the winner-winner chicken dinner of attaining AGI before anyone else is promulgating bad science.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
People ran pell-mell outside, sped away in cars with no clear destination, went to church, or just phoned the police or radio station to hyperventilate.
—Nicolas Rapold, airmail.news, 23 Nov. 2024
Abe and Mary are part Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, part George and Martha, part the old vaudevillians George Burns and Gracie Allen, all running together pell-mell toward the Copacabana.
—Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 12 July 2024
Administration officials don’t see this situation as similar to October 2022, when the intelligence community saw a significant possibility Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons to avert a collapse of Russia’s front lines in Ukraine and prevent a pell-mell retreat.
—David Ignatius, Washington Post, 21 June 2024
Ultimately, the more naturalistic second half — which has a realistic set with chairs and tables, delivered in a clunky black-out transition by intrusive stagehands — gets as sharp and loud as the pell-mell sounds-and-lights first half.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 12 Apr. 2024
Only a few of them stopped with remainder racing pell-mell through the intersection as approaching cars on Charles braked abruptly.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 25 Apr. 2024
Ministry is not nearly as proficient as Chad Stahelski’s John Wick 4 or Matthias Schweighöfer’s Army of Thieves, but the pell-mell combat scenes are consistently cartoonish.
—Armond White, National Review, 19 Apr. 2024
America saw a pell-mell downsizing of gas-guzzling vehicles and a simultaneous ramping up of imports of fuel-efficient Japanese cars.
—Jim Krane, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pell-mell
Adjective
-
Scenes of hurried passengers chugging water or tossing full bottles into trash bins have become routine — and agents are required to confiscate anything that doesn’t comply, often to the frustration of everyday travelers.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
17 July 2025
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While authors have long relied on brief bookstore appearances and hurried festival signings to connect with their audience, reading retreats offer extended, intimate access to their most devoted fans in settings designed for thoughtful literary discussion.—
JD Barker,
Rolling Stone,
16 July 2025
Adjective
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That's according to a TikTok Godwin posted from the somewhat chaotic marg-making experience.—
Hannah Kirby,
jsonline.com,
7 Aug. 2025
-
His meetings are chaotic and keeps insulting the staff ...—
Niraj Warikoo,
Freep.com,
7 Aug. 2025
Adverb
-
Butters in particular kills it, going from surfer chick to worrying mom clutching a glass of crisp white wine, frantically trying to save her engagement while stuck inside the body of a teenager.—
Angie Martoccio,
Rolling Stone,
7 Aug. 2025
-
Ford’s wife, Mary, had already left early for her job as a nurse when Tommy started frantically trying to wake him up.—
Jen Reeder,
Forbes.com,
6 Aug. 2025
Adverb
-
Details have emerged of a Russian peace offer reportedly made to US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, before the Alaska summit was hastily arranged.—
Matthew Chance,
CNN Money,
14 Aug. 2025
-
But hastily arranged encounters rarely result as hoped, and everything about the visit by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow that produced the Alaska invitation last week screams confusion.—
Marc Champion,
Twin Cities,
13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Notably, over the next three days — through a hot but noisy producer price index reading and a messy University of Michigan consumer-sentiment survey — the benchmark treated Tuesday’s closing level just under 6,450 as a floor, testing it repeatedly and finishing the week right on it.—
Michael Santoli,
CNBC,
16 Aug. 2025
-
When you’re finished, the self-cleaning cycle rinses the brush roll and interior for easy maintenance, saving you from messy cleanup.—
Toni Sutton,
People.com,
15 Aug. 2025
Adverb
-
The stock, which several analysts say is wildly overvalued (with a market cap valuing it at around 100 times its annual revenue), has shot up nearly 600% from a year ago.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
7 Aug. 2025
-
An endorsement from a president wildly popular with Kentucky voters could be a deciding factor in the 2026 Republican primary race for U.S. Senate.—
Lucas Aulbach,
The Courier-Journal,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
This momentary pause, this saving interruption of the headlong, breathless trajectory of rape or murder, admitted a kind of compassion, pity, even tenderness, halting injustice in its tracks.—
Sarah Beckwith,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
-
But swirling around it are immigration restrictions, headlong and haphazard reductions in Federal spending and a separate but related confidence shock weighing on consumer behavior.—
Michael Santoli,
CNBC,
22 Mar. 2025
Adverb
-
All of it wild-caught.—
Amy Drew Thompson,
orlandosentinel.com,
14 Aug. 2020
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Pell-mell.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pell-mell. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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