helter-skelter

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"If Cheryl wants to leave the show because her 'overpaid, primadonna of a husband' can't take a bit of criticism, that's her helter-skelter."

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. adverb In disorderly haste; confusedly; pell-mell.
  2. adverb Haphazardly.
  3. adjective Carelessly hurried and confused.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Passersby and commuters including commercial motorcyclists popularly called Okada were not left out as they ran helter-skelter. —  Vanguard News
  • The ice chunks speed helter-skelter down into the yellow river below. —  The Daily Utah Chronicle RSS
  • I'm pleased that things aren't quite as helter-skelter as I quite imagined, and that you definitely need a plan lest you get mown down in a hurry. —  1UP RSS feed
  • That's where we are right now in the helter-skelter pell-mell race to take all stocks to single digits as the notion of a worldwide global depression sinks in. stepping down from his post in June after six years with the second-largest Japanese automaker. —  BloggingStocks
  • Going by his wise assessment the countdown has started and people in Pakistan should be running helter-skelter. —  Asian Tribune
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. First in Shakspere's time; a dial. expression, being a riming formula vaguely imitative of hurry and confusion. Cf. hurly-burly. The same initial sequence h—sk — appears in harumscarum, dial. havey-scavey, etc.
  2. from helter-skelter, adv.
 

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/ˈhɛltərˈskɛltər/
by American Heritage

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