adj
Meaning 1
Carelessly hurried and confused.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
helter-skelter
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American: /ˌhɛltɚˈskɛltɚ/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˌhɛltəˈskɛltə/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛltə(ɹ)
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CMU ARPABET: HH EH2 L T ER0 S K EH1 L T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adv
Meaning 2
In confused, disorderly haste.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The winds knocked huge trees helter-skelter all over my garden.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Confusion or turmoil.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
An amusement ride consisting of a slide that spirals down around the exterior of a tapering central tower, most commonly modeled after lighthouses.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: helter-skelter lighthouse
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 5
with undue hurry and confusion
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a helter-skelter kind of existence with never a pause
- a pell-mell dash for the train
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pell-mell
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 6
lacking a visible order or organization
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: chaotic
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 7
haphazardly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the books were piled up helter-skelter
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: every which way
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
In form a reduplication (similar to hurry-scurry and harum-scarum, both with initial /h-/ and /sk-/); perhaps based on Middle English skelten ("to hasten; to raise an alarm"), or maybe related to Old High German skeltan (“scold”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“make noise, yell”), employed as a fossil word.
Across languages
Translations
35 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: объркан (obǎrkan) — Carelessly hurried and confused
- Czech: zmatený — Carelessly hurried and confused
- Czech: chaotický — Carelessly hurried and confused
- Czech: překotný — Carelessly hurried and confused
- German: holterdiepolter — Carelessly hurried and confused
- Plautdietsch: droslich — Carelessly hurried and confused
- Polish: bezładny — Carelessly hurried and confused
- Scottish Gaelic: amasgaidh — Carelessly hurried and confused
- Bulgarian: объркано (obǎrkano) — in confused, disorderly haste
- Bulgarian: без ред (bez red) — in confused, disorderly haste
- Czech: hlava nehlava — in confused, disorderly haste
- Czech: zmateně — in confused, disorderly haste
- Czech: chaoticky — in confused, disorderly haste
- Czech: horempádem — in confused, disorderly haste
- Dagbani: balibali — in confused, disorderly haste
- Danish: hulter til bulter — in confused, disorderly haste
- Dutch: holderdebolder — in confused, disorderly haste
- German: holterdiepolter — in confused, disorderly haste
- German: Hals über Kopf — in confused, disorderly haste
- Hungarian: nyakra-főre — in confused, disorderly haste
- Hungarian: hanyatt-homlok — in confused, disorderly haste
- Hungarian: hebehurgyán — in confused, disorderly haste
- Japanese: めちゃめちゃ (mechamecha) — in confused, disorderly haste
- Polish: bezładnie — in confused, disorderly haste
- Polish: na łeb, na szyję — in confused, disorderly haste
- Portuguese: a trouxe-mouxe — in confused, disorderly haste
- Scottish Gaelic: amasgaidh — in confused, disorderly haste
- Scottish Gaelic: uathrais air thairis — in confused, disorderly haste
- Tamil: துண்டைக் காணோம் துணியைக் காணோம் என்று (tuṇṭaik kāṇōm tuṇiyaik kāṇōm eṉṟu) — in confused, disorderly haste
- Bulgarian: безпорядък (bezporjadǎk) — confusion or turmoil
- Bulgarian: суматоха (sumatoha) — confusion or turmoil
- Czech: zmatek — confusion or turmoil
- Scottish Gaelic: giorna-giùirne — confusion or turmoil
- Czech: tobogan — amusement ride
- Ukrainian: спіра́льна гі́рка (spirálʹna hírka) — amusement ride