harum-scarum
[hair-uh m-skair-uh m, har-uh m-skar-uh m]
- reckless; rash; irresponsible: He had a harum-scarum youth.
- disorganized; uncontrolled.
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- recklessly; wildly: He ran harum-scarum all over the place.
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- a reckless person.
- reckless or unpredictable behavior or action.
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Origin of harum-scarum
Synonyms
See more synonyms for harum-scarum on Thesaurus.com1, 2. erratic, impulsive, impetuous; giddy, scatterbrained.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for harum-scarum
Historical Examples
A harum-scarum fellow, and pretending to a great scorn for all the girls.
A Set of SixJoseph Conrad
And of how they looked & the harum-scarum things they did & said.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
She's such a wild, harum-scarum thing, and she does love to tease.
Miss Pat at SchoolPemberton Ginther
Of course it was a harum-scarum impression, but it gratified them to hold it.
The Shellback's ProgressWalter Runciman
She was only eighteen, and the most harum-scarum creature you ever saw.
Mary Ware's Promised LandAnnie Fellows Johnston
harum-scarum
- in a reckless way or of a reckless nature
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- a person who is impetuous or rash
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Word Origin
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
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper