merry-go-round

[ mer-ee-goh-round ]
See synonyms for merry-go-round on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Also called carousel . (in amusement parks, carnivals, etc.) a revolving, circular platform with wooden horses or other animals, benches, etc., on which people may sit or ride, usually to the accompaniment of mechanical or recorded music.

  2. a rapid whirl or a busy round, as of social life or business affairs.

Origin of merry-go-round

1
First recorded in 1720–30

Words Nearby merry-go-round

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use merry-go-round in a sentence

  • Once Drouet took Whistler to the fair at Neuilly, made him ride in a merry-go-round.

    The Life of James McNeill Whistler | Elizabeth Robins Pennell
  • It was a merry-go-round of coasters climbing up single file by the slide while coaster after coaster shot singly down.

    Watched by Wild Animals | Enos A. Mills
  • Thereat the Girl Scouts' washing went on as merrily as a merry-go-round at a picnic.

  • And she visited a merry-go-round, and took part in a seaside pageant.

    Polly in New York | Lillian Elizabeth Roy
  • He felt as he had once felt in his rash youth when another boy had enticed him on the merry-go-round at a picnic.

    Anne Of Green Gables | Lucy Maud Montgomery

British Dictionary definitions for merry-go-round

merry-go-round

noun
  1. another name for roundabout (def. 1)

  2. a whirl of activity or events: the merry-go-round of the fashion world

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