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:
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
But mostly for my parents, who had worked so hard for so many years to create a refuge from the hurly-burly of the outside world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2025
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
Nothing matches the profound satisfaction of a young voice piercing the hurly-burly between classes, shouting out, “Mr. Pedraza! The best substitute ever!”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 3, 2021
The hurly-burly of politics did not suit his temperament, which was only comfortable when ensconced on his mountaintop and redesigning his mansion at Monticello.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
How many several hurly-burlies of fools! for I myself sometimes sit among those poetical gods.
From The Praise of Folly by John Wilson
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
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
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.
