helter-skelter

[hel-ter-skel-ter]

adverb

1. in headlong and disorderly haste.

   The children ran helter-skelter all over the house.

2. in a haphazard manner; without regard for order.

   Clothes were scattered helter-skelter about the room.

adjective

1. carelessly hurried; confused.

   They ran in a mad, helter-skelter fashion for the exits.

2. disorderly; haphazard.

   Books and papers were scattered on the desk in a helter-skelter manner.

noun

1. tumultuous disorder; confusion.

helter-skelter

/ ˈhɛltəˈskɛltə /

adjective

1. haphazard or carelessly hurried

adverb

1. in a helter-skelter manner

noun

1. a high spiral slide, as at a fairground

2. disorder or haste

Word History and Origins

Origin of helter-skelter¹

First recorded in 1585–95; rhyming compound, perhaps based on unattested skelt, Middle English skelten “to hasten”; further origin unknown); reduplication with initial h parallel to hubble-bubble, higgledy-piggledy, etc.

Word History and Origins

Origin of helter-skelter¹

C16: probably of imitative origin

Example Sentences

It was a little more of a helter-skelter approach, but we somehow got through it.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

England captain Ben Stokes checked India's progress after Harry Brook's breathtaking 99 on a helter-skelter third day of the first Test at Headingley.

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This was a helter-skelter day, the breathless cricket picking up from the previous time these sides met on this ground - New Zealand's classic one-run victory at the beginning of last year.

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How destructive his term will be remains unknowable, but his helter-skelter, vengeance-fueled approach to wielding power may have the ironic effect of impeding his ability to deliver on his more radical promises.

Read more on Salon

The conditions made for a helter-skelter session with drivers clearly struggling for grip on a track where F1 has not held a race for five years.

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Related Words

• chaotic 
• haphazard 
• hurried