harum-scarum

[hair-uhm-skair-uhm, har-uhm-skar-uhm]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR harum-scarum ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

reckless; rash; irresponsible: He had a harum-scarum youth.

disorganized; uncontrolled.

adverb

recklessly; wildly: He ran harum-scarum all over the place.

noun

a reckless person.

reckless or unpredictable behavior or action.

Origin of harum-scarum

1665–75; earlier harum-starum rhyming compound based on obsolete hare to harass + stare

Related formshar·um-scar·um·ness, noun

Synonyms for harum-scarum

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR harum-scarum ON THESAURUS.COM

1, 2. erratic, impulsive, impetuous; giddy, scatterbrained.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for harum-scarum

wild, daring, rash, carefree, careless, disorderly, erratic, flighty, foolhardy, giddy, haphazard, hasty, imprudent, irresponsible, negligent, regardless, thoughtless, light-minded, scatty

Examples from the Web for harum-scarum

Historical Examples of harum-scarum

A harum-scarum fellow, and pretending to a great scorn for all the girls.
A Set of Six
Joseph Conrad
And of how they looked & the harum-scarum things they did & said.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete
Albert Bigelow Paine
She's such a wild, harum-scarum thing, and she does love to tease.
Miss Pat at School
Pemberton Ginther
Of course it was a harum-scarum impression, but it gratified them to hold it.
The Shellback's Progress
Walter Runciman
She was only eighteen, and the most harum-scarum creature you ever saw.
Mary Ware's Promised Land
Annie Fellows Johnston

British Dictionary definitions for harum-scarum

harum-scarum

adjective, adverb

in a reckless way or of a reckless nature

noun

a person who is impetuous or rash

Word Origin for harum-scarum

C17: perhaps from hare (in obsolete sense: harass) + scare, variant of stare 1; compare helter-skelter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for harum-scarum

1670s (adv.), probably a compound of obsolete hare (v.) "harry" + scare (v.), with 'um as a reduced form of them. As an adjective from 1751; as a noun from 1784.