hurly-burly
Americannoun
-
hurly-burlies
plural
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hurly-burly
1520–30; alteration of hurling ( and ) burling, rhyming phrase based on hurling in its (now obsolete) sense of tumult, uproar
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:
I got a crash course on Angeleno aesthetics and the ins and outs of the rough and tumble San Fernando Valley hurly-burly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Perhaps this can be done in the midst of the hurly-burly of the professional world, but it’s not easy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
It is this connection between the well-being of people and the functioning of government that often gets lost or forgotten in the hurly-burly of debate over the locus and exercise of governing power.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2023
The petite 20-year-old has carved out a small patch of influence in the male-dominated hurly-burly of Kenyan politics, in the informal settlement of Kibra in the capital, Nairobi, where she lives.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2022
Declarations of principled withdrawal from the hurly-burly of politics to the natural rhythms of one’s fields or farms had become rhetorical rituals.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
King looks towards the Prince of Baireuth again, agreed on before those hurly-burlies now past; Queen looks far otherwards.
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 08 by Thomas Carlyle
How many several hurly-burlies of fools! for I myself sometimes sit among those poetical gods.
From The Praise of Folly by John Wilson
I hope the soldiers of Capua shall follow our faction, for Sylla, hearing of these hurly-burlies, is hasting homeward, very fortunate in his wars against Mithridates.
From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 7 by Various
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