helter-skelter
4
7.3
- adjective
- /ˈhɛltərˈskɛltər/
- Staring into the living room, where the recent exodus of guests had left the tables and chairs helter-skelter.
- ran helter-skelter
- race helter-skelter
- rolled helter-skelter
Examples
-
Even on one of the quiet mountain peaks looming over Hong Kong Island, a low hum rises up from the helter-skelter jumble of ethereal skyscrapers.
Academic text (1998) -
The gravestones in the cemetery stick up helter-skelter, tilting crazily this way and that.
Fiction book (1996) -
Young girls screaming and running about... helter-skelter.
-
Fireworks started going off in her head, and the good and bad cells went helter-skelter.
Fiction book (1999) -
My fishing rods lay helter-skelter in the back of the car.
Fiction book (1996) -
The lab is hopelessly cluttered, as if a whirlwind had swept inside and thrown everything helter-skelter.
Fiction book (1993) -
I gazed up at it, slowly comprehending that I lay still, out of the helter-skelter race of the river, and that something wet and sluggish held me fast.
Fiction book (1999) -
We need this theoretical grounding because practical ethical criticism goes on all the time, often conducted in a most helter-skelter, contradictory, and intellectually incoherent way.
Academic text (1998) -
In the many crevices of Kora in Hell, Williams hides such illicit desires and takes mental stock of his trove, though that may be too orderly an image for a process that's often charged and helter-skelter.
Academic text (2007) -
The lab is hopelessly cluttered, as if a whirlwind had swept inside and thrown everything helter-skelter.
Synonyms
116
4.7
Not organized and full of confusion
37
1.0
Messy and not in order, with things mixed up
36
6.6
Full of confusion and disorder among people, politics, or events
32
3.3
Twisted together in a messy mass that is hard to separate
19
6.1
Having messy hair, clothes, or things around them
18
3.8
Mixed together in a confused and untidy way
18
5.4
Confused and not in clear order so hard to understand
16
4.9
In many different directions in a messy, random way
12
4.5
Not arranged in a clear or tidy way
12
6.4
In a way that is not regular or easy to predict
9
7.5
Mixed up and in a messy, confused state
9
9.9
Messy and not organized
5
1.6
Something that is untidy and not in order
3
9.0
In a confused, hurried way
3
8.2
A sudden state of confusion and panic that makes someone lose control
1
5.6
In a wild, disordered way
1
4.5
A place or thing that is untidy and not in order
1
9.9
In a messy, untidy way
1
9.9
In a messy, mixed-up way with things in no order
1
4.0
In a way that shows you are not sure or do not understand
1
8.7
Very badly organized and causing confusion
1
5.8
Not neat or in order
1
8.1
To fall down suddenly into a messy pile
1
9.9
Being confused and disorganized
1
7.6
Messy and jumbled so people cannot understand it
1
9.9
In a confused, hurried way with no order
In a messy, disorganized way
In a confused and disorganized state
A confusing, messy way of working that causes mistakes
Antonyms
How Orderly
Surface Forms
Etymology
Helter-skelter is an old rhyming pair that was made to sound hurried and messy, like two quick words stuck together. A helpful way to remember it is to think of the parts sounding like hurl or hurtle ('to rush'), so helter-skelter means 'in a disorderly or chaotic way'.