flurry
Americannoun
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a light, brief shower of snow.
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sudden commotion, excitement, or confusion; nervous hurry.
There was a flurry of activity before the guests arrived.
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Stock Exchange.
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a brief rise or fall in prices.
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a brief, unusually heavy period of trading.
-
-
a sudden gust of wind.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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(of snow) to fall or be blown in a flurry.
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to move in an excited or agitated manner.
noun
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a sudden commotion or burst of activity
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a light gust of wind or rain or fall of snow
-
stock exchange a sudden brief increase in trading or fluctuation in stock prices
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the death spasms of a harpooned whale
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
flurrysimple
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flurriessimple
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have flurriedperfect
-
has flurriedperfect
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am flurryingprogressive
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are flurryingprogressive
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is flurryingprogressive
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have been flurryingperfect progressive
-
has been flurryingperfect progressive
Past
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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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myPerspectives 10.3
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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.
A flurry of such cases involving top Chinese researchers and prestigious scientific journals has made Geng a celebrity in China.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 7, 2026
The flurry of votes brought an underwhelming end to the yearlong effort at rewriting the City Charter, L.A.’s municipal governing document.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 4, 2026
A single mistaken headline, corrected within minutes, led to a flurry of news coverage and a public reckoning for a respected reporter.
From Slate • Jul. 2, 2026
Uruguay began with a flurry of goals - and then hit a wall.
From BBC • Jun. 26, 2026
Taking a bite of his cheeseburger, Fadi sat alone, watching students flurry around him like snowflakes in a blizzard.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
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.
