Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In disorderly haste; confusedly; pell-mell.
- adv. Haphazardly.
- adj. Carelessly hurried and confused.
- adj. Haphazard.
- n. Turmoil; confusion.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- With confused haste or commotion; in a disorderly hurry; confusedly.
- Confused; disorderly; carelessly hurried.
- n. Confused movement or action; disorderly hurry or bustle; confusion.
Wiktionary
- adv. In confused, disorderly haste
- adj. Carelessly hurried and confused
- n. confusion or turmoil
- n. UK A helical fairground slide
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. colloq. In hurry and confusion; without definite purpose; irregularly.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. haphazardly.
- adj. lacking a visible order or organization
- adj. with undue hurry and confusion
Etymologies
- From helter + skelter. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Neither of those current stereotypes survived this extraordinary match, a helter-skelter ride of fine goals and head-clutching errors – and that is to take into account only the individual contributions of Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres, both of whom touched the heights of the sublime and the depths of the gor-blimey.”
“We don't want the kind of world we'll get if we allow global climate change, resource conflicts, resource constraints, environmental degradation, overwhelming population growth, helter-skelter urbanization, war, social injustice and other looming problems to go unaddressed.”
The Huffington Post: William S. Becker: Let's Talk About the Future We Want
“The Revolution Business looks like the original painting had an interesting composition, but then the text is plopped over it helter-skelter, creating an over-all impression of just chaos.”
“The projected video feed of its crazed, helter-skelter movements delivers the sickening effect of a fairground ride.”
“The pitch was hardly pristine and Ireland had to acclimatise quickly during frenetic opening exchanges, when the pace and helter-skelter action gave the occasion a real cup tie feel.”
The Guardian: Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland | Euro 2012 play-off match report
“It was like climbing the wrong way up a helter-skelter; we got to the top and stood on the parapet waiting to jump.”
“On the helter-skelter main roads in these villages and towns we pass by tiendas offering everything from toothpaste to tomatoes or a farmacia where you can purchase drugs that don't require taking out a bank loan, although it might be useful to check their expiry dates.”
“Another sign of the stunning turnaround: U.S. Treasurys, which had been a helter-skelter destination for safety-seeking investors, have seen prices collapse.”
“Given the pace of cultural change in the helter-skelter postwar boom, it would be an incongruously long reign.”
“They flew helter-skelter out of his grips, landing in all manner of attitudes, grotesquely and harmlessly, in the soft snow.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘helter-skelter’.
-
Reduples
Go for it, brothers and sisters! I personally have been suffering long for lack of an open reduplicatives list
happy clappy, bribble-brabble, diddle-daddle, hugger-mugger, kikiriki, Bora-Bora, mahi-mahi, jingle-jangle, knick-knack paddy..., chit-chat, bon-bon, clapperclaw and 292 more...
-
Nincompoopery
Words that clatter and tumble
nincompoop, pettyfoggery, gaberlunzie, cattywampus, weisenheimer, katzenjammer, hecklephone, loblolly, carriwitchet, flibbertyjibbet, hornswoggle, thimblerigger and 161 more...
-
Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
Situation Normal
inspired by Mistakes Were Made. Words for things going wrong in a manner particularly violent, stupid, soul-crushing, boggling, grandiose, or any combination of these qualities.
fuckup, snafu, fiasco, abortion, miscarriage, implosion, contretemps, imbroglio, brouhaha, melee, kerfuffle, mayhem and 156 more...
-
Intertanglement
A list of bejumble and minglement.
intertanglement, mixture, commingle, commixtion, immixture, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, intermixture, medley, minglement, mingle-mangle, blendure and 60 more...
-
HollieGolightly's list
indigo, flippant, quaint, ebullience, subterfuge, conspicuous, surreptitiously, kodachrome, doppelganger, hullabaloo, nabob, motley and 21 more...
-
Choi inspired
Fun words my friend loves and others I introduced to him.
Namby-pamby, Niminy piminy, Nitpick, Nit-wit, Piggly-wiggly, Ping-pong, Pitter-patter, Raggle-taggle, Riff-raff, zoot suit, zig-zag, wishy-washy and 73 more...
-
slackagogo's Words
agelast, aggiornamento, zaftig, wowserism, vox barbara, verbigeration, tchotchke, tautology, sycophant, spoonerism, solipsism, sobriquet and 288 more...
-
Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
-
Double Trouble
Reduplicatives and more.
splish-splash, hip-hop, kit-kat, dingaling, hugger-mugger, even-steven, tit for tat, higgledy-piggledy, dilly-dally, boogie-woogie, knick-knack, mai tai and 131 more...
-
Favorite Words
quixotic, assonance, palindrome, plebeian, mezzanine, propinquity, etymology, antihero, intrepid, refractions, lawless, sesquipedalian and 237 more...
-
Moby-Dick
Interesting words and usages.
hypo, spile, hunks, grapnel, squitchy, skrimshander, monkey jacket, direful, grego, wrapall, dreadnaught, bosky and 158 more...
-
Adverbia
A long list of adverbs, beginning with full-drive. Someone had to list them. This list in continued in the list More Adverbia.
Read some sniping and some informative commentary about a...full-drive, portentously, unlawfully, legally, heterogeneously, consumingly, clancularly, inconsolably, prepositionally, retrogressively, symptomatically, decrepitly and 2460 more...
-
stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
-
use•ful
palmary, glossolalia, bothum, high-proof, synesthesia, odious, autochthonous, yawp, mordacious, dynamo, dishevel, titely and 414 more...
-
oddball
wackadoodlery.
( personal list )
related (from me):
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/onomatopoeias--1
bric-a-brac, succotash, humbucker, skedaddle, scallywag, sassafras, gadzooks, humdinger, hoity-toity, wishy-washy, namby-pamby, ding dong and 441 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for helter-skelter.
yarb The whole crew were half suffocated as they were tossed helter-skelter into the white curdling cream of the squall.
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 48 Jul 25, 2008
bilby First time I have ever seen helter-skelter as a noun and it's a Kraut dumbwaiter? Apr 9, 2008
reesetee Scary, in an oddly fascinating way. Apr 9, 2008
bilby "Everything is prepared from fresh. When it is ready, the meal is put in a pot and given a sticker and a colour to match the customer's seat.
Then it is put on the rails and despatched downhill to the correct table. Manna from heaven, German-style.
The restaurant is the brainchild of local businessman Michael Mack.
"I wanted to come up with a complete new restaurant system," Michael tells me, "one that would be more efficient and more comfortable".
Replacing waiters with helter-skelters and computers is fun for the customers. It also makes financial sense for the restaurant."
- ' Fast food, German-style ', Steve Rosenberg for BBC News, 8 April 2008. Apr 9, 2008