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Synonyms

helter-skelter

American  
[hel-ter-skel-ter] / ˈhɛl tərˈskɛl tər /

adverb

  1. in headlong and disorderly haste.

    The children ran helter-skelter all over the house.

  2. in a haphazard manner; without regard for order.

    Clothes were scattered helter-skelter about the room.

adjective

  1. carelessly hurried; confused.

    They ran in a mad, helter-skelter fashion for the exits.

  2. disorderly; haphazard.

    Books and papers were scattered on the desk in a helter-skelter manner.

noun

  1. tumultuous disorder; confusion.

helter-skelter British  
/ ˈhɛltəˈskɛltə /

adjective

  1. haphazard or carelessly hurried

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. in a helter-skelter manner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a high spiral slide, as at a fairground

  2. disorder or haste

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of helter-skelter

First recorded in 1585–95; rhyming compound, perhaps based on unattested skelt, Middle English skelten “to hasten”; further origin unknown); reduplication with initial h parallel to hubble-bubble, higgledy-piggledy, etc.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.