carrying-on
Americannoun
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irresponsible, irritating, self-indulgent, or overwrought behavior.
The baby-sitter was exhausted from the child's noisy carrying-on.
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improper or immoral behavior.
noun
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unconventional or questionable behaviour
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excited or flirtatious behaviour, esp when regarded as foolish
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of carrying-on
First recorded in 1855–60
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.
It was less of an axiom than an ethos for a carrying-on, proud people:
From Washington Post • Feb. 23, 2014
Ms. Murphy juxtaposes the comedy, the heartache and the carrying-on with a deft hand, so that sentimentality is kept at bay.
From New York Times • Jan. 8, 2010
“That’s what she’s struggling with. The carrying-on part. Is she there?”
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
Well, there couldn’t have been any carrying-on down at the store or we’d have heard about it long time ago.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
At last my grandfather he stopt and pulled hisself together with an awful face, and says he: 'We're Christmas pie for the carrying-on crows if we don't prove ourselves human.
From At a Winter's Fire by Capes, Bernard Edward Joseph
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.
