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:
Following a flurry of legal filings by Pike's lawyers that delayed the start of the execution by several hours, the US Supreme Court on Wednesday night cleared the way for the punishment to go ahead.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
The initial Moss Landing fire sparked a flurry oflegislative proposals to bolster California’s energy storage safety.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
He also anticipates that companies involved in project development of behind-the-meter systems will see a flurry of transactions with data-center developers and AI companies.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Travel agents and visitors say a flurry of discounts, special events and new attractions convinced families to make their way to The House of Mouse in Florida and California.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
A little laughter, a little flurry of chat, a pause, a glance round the room.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
After White House officials made flurries of calls to both countries, the two reached a cease-fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
In the flurries of media interviews that come with life as an astronaut, he acknowledged the deep responsibility he felt toward the next generations of Black astronauts he hoped to inspire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 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
While Friday was originally set as the opening date of the Heavenly and Northstar ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area, officials said mild weather and stubbornly insufficient flurries have delayed those plans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2025
In slow spirals, white flurries fell to the ground.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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
But instead of gangsters and cocaine, it finds a flurried momentum in one ordinary woman’s everyday obligations, which threaten to break her when a nationwide strike throws her tenuous act off balance.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
Boston flurried at the end of the half to take a 68-56 lead into halftime.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
Sircar called out as doctors and nurses flurried around a 48-year-old man who had been rushed in and intubated in the emergency room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2021
The churning city of her musical notes flurried into the air.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
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
The wind scattered the flurrying snow above the grave.
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.
