flurry

American  

[flur-ee, fluhr-ee] / ˈflɜr i, ˈflʌr i /

noun

plural

flurries

1. a light, brief shower of snow.

2. sudden commotion, excitement, or confusion; nervous hurry.

   There was a flurry of activity before the guests arrived.

   Synonyms:

   ado, fluster, fuss, to-do, stir, pother, upset

3. Stock Exchange.

   1. a brief rise or fall in prices.

   2. a brief, unusually heavy period of trading.

4. a sudden gust of wind.

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verb (used with object)

flurried, flurrying

1. to put (a person) into a flurry; confuse; fluster.

verb (used without object)

flurried, flurrying

1. (of snow) to fall or be blown in a flurry.

2. to move in an excited or agitated manner.

flurry British  

/ ˈflʌrɪ /

noun

1. a sudden commotion or burst of activity

2. a light gust of wind or rain or fall of snow

3. stock exchange a sudden brief increase in trading or fluctuation in stock prices

4. the death spasms of a harpooned whale

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verb

1. to confuse or bewilder or be confused or bewildered

Other Word Forms

• flurriedly adverb

Etymology

Origin of flurry

1680–90, blend of flutter and hurry

Example Sentences

The transfer came last week amid a flurry of personnel changes.

From Los Angeles Times

Immigrants and their advocates filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to preserve the protections.

From The Wall Street Journal

Scotland then blew away Galthie's side, before conceding a late flurry of tries, to head into the final round with a genuine shot of a first Six Nations title.

From BBC

Software companies have faced a flurry of concerns this year as rapidly improving AI models threaten to upend their businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal

The initial flurry of interest faded after researchers showed it was likely that much of the content on Moltbook was human users posing as AI agents, although security breaches on the site were subsequently fixed.

From Barron's

Related Words

• furor
• outbreak
• spurt
• squall
• turmoil
• whirl
• whirlwind