flurry
Americannoun
-
flurries
plural
-
a light, brief shower of snow.
-
sudden commotion, excitement, or confusion; nervous hurry.
There was a flurry of activity before the guests arrived.
-
Stock Exchange.
-
a brief rise or fall in prices.
-
a brief, unusually heavy period of trading.
-
-
a sudden gust of wind.
verb (used with object)
-
flurries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
flurried,
past participle, past
-
flurrying
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
flurries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
flurried,
past participle, past
-
flurrying
present participle
-
(of snow) to fall or be blown in a flurry.
-
to move in an excited or agitated manner.
noun
-
a sudden commotion or burst of activity
-
a light gust of wind or rain or fall of snow
-
stock exchange a sudden brief increase in trading or fluctuation in stock prices
-
the death spasms of a harpooned whale
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
flurrysimple
-
flurriessimple
-
have flurriedperfect
-
has flurriedperfect
-
am flurryingprogressive
-
are flurryingprogressive
-
is flurryingprogressive
-
have been flurryingperfect progressive
-
has been flurryingperfect progressive
Past
-
flurriedsimple
-
had flurriedperfect
-
was flurryingprogressive
-
were flurryingprogressive
-
had been flurryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of flurry
Explanation
A light blowing swirl of snow that's just barely falling is a flurry. There might be a brief flurry or two at the beginning of the winter, with no real heavy snow until January. You can describe a snow flurry, or a similarly swirling flurry of leaves or papers. When people act this way, rushing and fussing around, that's another kind of flurry. There might, for example, be a flurry of activity in the morning at your house as everyone hurries to get ready for the day. This sense of flurry is actually about a hundred years older than the snow meaning, which was first used in mid-1800's American English.
Vocabulary lists containing flurry
Raining Cats and Dogs
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Hands
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Baker claimed Winchell was sitting at a nearby table and refused to come to her aid, causing a flurry of support for her cause.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
In February, rates briefly dropped below 6%, sparking a flurry of buyer interest and optimism that a rebound in sales was on the horizon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Despite a flurry of vague timelines and lofty promises, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be out of the woods any time soon.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
ViaSat stock has more than doubled this year amid a flurry of satellite-company takeovers, but it is pursuing a different path.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
Now there was a flurry of registration for union membership.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
There will be occasional flurries of action and tense situations, but it’s a leisurely watch — though not slow, in the pejorative sense.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
In Tokyo, the flowers reached full bloom during the weekend, entering a brief period of stunning beauty, before the petals will fall like flurries of snow.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
Fast-moving hail showers are possible almost anywhere and brief flurries of wet snow are not out of the question, even in the south.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
Nano Banana Pro produced the most real-looking outfit and flurries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
When the wind came up it blew right through them, whirling flurries to the ground.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
For 27 clubs, that meant an afternoon of flurried activity, with top international prospects officially signing deals that, in many cases, they had effectively been committed to for months, if not years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
The brushstrokes are a whirlwind of eloquent smudges and slashes, suggesting that the picture was completed in a few flurried minutes.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2023
Boston flurried at the end of the half to take a 68-56 lead into halftime.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
City Council staffers flurried to do the same for their bosses.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2017
Outside the brush house in the tuna clump, a covey of little birds chittered and flurried with their wings.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
As Antoshak recalls, it was flurrying — the first snow of the season.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 7, 2022
Long lines of blue-clad fans stood queued up for beers despite an overcast sky and flakes of snow flurrying to the ground.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2018
It is a gem of a work, opening with a fantasia of flurrying 16th notes that echo snowfall.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2017
That evening, the Humphreys drove through flurrying snow to his headquarters in Minneapolis.
From Time Magazine Archive
What if you’re both wrong? she said, her hands flurrying.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
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.
