Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Helter-skelter |
Helter-skelterAdjective1. Lacking a visible order or organization. 2. With undue hurry and confusion; "a helter-skelter kind of existence with never a pause"; "a pell-mell dash for the train". Adverb1. Haphazardly; "the books were piled up helter-skelter". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "helter-skelter" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Literature | Helter-skelter Higgledy-piggledy; in hurry and confusion. The Latin hilariter-celeriter comes tlerably near the meaning of post-haste, as Shakespeare uses the expression (2 Henry IV., v. 3): - "Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend, And helter-skelter have I rode to thee, And tidings do I bring." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Sports & Leisure | An external spiral slide around a tower in an amusement park. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: Helter-skelterSynonyms: chaotic (adj), pell-mell (adj), every wich way (adv). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disorder | Adverb: irregularly; Adjective: by fits, by fits and snatches, by fits and starts; pellmell; higgledy-piggledy; helter-skelter, harum-scarum; in a ferment; at sixes and sevens, at cross-purposes; upside down. |
Haste | Hastily, precipitately; Adjective: helter-skelter, hurry-skurry, holus-bolus; slapdash, slap-bang; full-tilt, full drive; heels over head, head and shoulders, headlong, a corps perdu. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Helter-skelter |
| English words defined with "helter-skelter": pell-mell ♦ Skelter. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "helter-skelter": Skelter. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Helter-skelter" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 76.00% of the time. "Helter-skelter" is used about 25 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 76% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Adverb (general) | 24% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 25 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Language | Translations for "helter-skelter"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | hallakatje (dispersion, fling, rant), tobogan, sajë me patina, rrëshqitëse (runner, sledge, sleigh, slide block, toboggan), rrëmujë (alarm, bustle, clutter, disarray, disorder, disturbance, dust, farrago, hash, higgledy-piggledy, huddle, hugger mugger, jumble, litter, mess, mix up, moil, muss, pandemonium, pell mell, pie, pother, roistering, snafu, tangle, topsy turvy, topsy-turvydom, tumble, upheaval, upset, welter), pa parë i pari të dytin, në rrëmujë (higgledy-piggledy, littery). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مستعجلا, مذر, هرج ومرج (astir, bedlam, fuss, hubbub, hurly burly, pandemonium, shambles), على نحو مذرى, شذر. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | суматоха (bustle, commotion, flurry, hurry, mix up, perturbation, pother, rumpus, stirabout), стръмна пързалка, както дойде (haphazard, in a happy-go-lucky way, slapdash), объркан (addle-brained, bushed, confused, deranged, disconcerted, distraught, embarrassed, foggy, graven, haywire, intricate, involute, lost, mazy, mixed, mixed up, muddle-headed, muddy, muzzy, obscure, perplexed, punch-drunk, puzzle-headed, puzzle-pated, raddle, tangly, turbid, undigested, unglued, woolly), безпорядък (disarray, disorder, disorganization, higgledy-piggledy, litter, misrule, moil, muck, muddle), бездеен (idle, inactive, indolent, inert, inoperative, passive, sluggish, supine, torpid), без ред (pell mell), през глава, паническо бягство (stampede). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 繽 (in confusion, mixed colors). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | horempádem (headlong), tobogan, překotný (precipitous), o překot. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | huiskin haiskin (pell-mell), pää kolmantena jalkana. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | en désordre, désordonné, bousculade, la débandade. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | holterdiepolter, hals über kopf (headfirst, on the spur of the moment), wirr (chaotic, confused, crazed, disordered, garbled, incoherent, incoherently, light-headed, mazily, mazy, tangled, weird, wild, woolly, woozily), wild (berserk, boisterous, boisterously, bold, crook, deer, feral, ferocious, ferociously, fierce, frantic, furious, furiously, game, game animals, haggard, illegal, rabid, rambunctious, rampant, riotous, riotously, rough, rugged, savage, savagely, truculently, undomesticated, ungovernable, unofficial, unruly, venison, wholesale, Wild, wild game, wildcat, wildly), tohuwabohu (chaos, shambles), rutschbahn (chute, slide), durcheinander (babel of tongues, bedlam, chaos, clutter, cluttered, confused, confusion, disorder, entanglement, hash, in a mess, in a muddle, in confusion, jumble, mess, mix up, mixed up, muddle, muddled, muddled up, mussy, pell mell, piecemeal, punch-drink, tangle, tumble, upset). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | φύρδην μίγδην (helter skelter, higgledy-piggledy, pell mell), ανακατωσούρα (confusion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ערבובי" (clutter, confusion, disorder, higgledy-piggledy, hodgpodge, hotchpotch, jumble, medley, mess, mingle-mangle, mishmash, muddle, muss, pastiche, tumble, welter). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | zûrzavaros (anarchic, anarchical, antipodal), zûrzavar (chaos, clutter, confusion, disorder, embroilment, huddle, hurly burly, jumble, maze, melee, mess, muddle, muss, pandemonium, snafu, tumult, turbulence), összevisszaság (disarray, hotchpotch, huddle, hurry-skurry, jumble, mess, mess-up, mish-mash, pell mell, pell-mell, promiscuity, promiscuousness, shambles, topsyturvydom, upturn). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | scivolo per luna-park, fretta (haste, hastiness, hurry, rush), disordine (confusion, disarray, disorder, disorderliness, disturbance, intemperance, mess, muddle, untidiness, upset). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | lane shilleyree, er mooin y cheilley (pell-mell). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | elter-skelterhay helsinque, confusamente (dazedly, hugger mugger, topsy turvy), clandestinamente (hugger mugger, underhand), sorte (easygoing, happy go lucky, hugger mugger). (various references) talmeş-balmeş (confusion, farrago, fustian, glory-hole, higgledy-piggledy, hodge-podge, hotchpotch, hurry-scurry, jumble, mix up, muddle, olio, topsy turvy, upside down, welter), pune cu susul în jos, debandadã (confusion, disorder, hurry-scurry, rout, scurry, stampede), deavalma, chiseliţã (stewed plums), brambura, alandala (awry, higgledy-piggledy, promiscuous, wrong). (various references) как попало (harum-scarum, hit or miss). (various references) zbrka (bungle, confusion, disarray, fuddle, hugger mugger, imbroglio, jumble, macaronics, maze, mess, mishmash, muddle, muss, omnium gatherum, pell mell, welter), na-vrat-na-nos (holus-bolus), metež (hubbub, pell mell, pother, scuffle, trouble, tumult, turmoil, uproar, upset). (various references) tobogán (chute, shoot, slide, toboggan), desbandada general, atropelladamente, ajetreado (tiring), a trochemoche (haphazardly, higgledy-piggledy, pell mell, pellmell), a la desbandada (in disorder, pell mell, pellmell). (various references) huller om buller (higgledy-piggledy, pell mell, pell-mell, topsy turvy, upside down). (various references) telaş (ado, alarm, bustle, commotion, directness, discomposure, disturbance, excitement, ferment, fever, flap, flurry, flutter, fume, fuss, fussiness, haste, hastiness, hurry, panic, precipitance, precipitancy, precipitateness, precipitation, pucker, racket, ruffle, rush, stir, storm, taking, tingle, tizzy, to-do, turmoil, whirl), karmakarışık (all in a tumble, all mixed up, at sixes and sevens, chaotic, confused, disheveled, dishevelled, embroiled, haywire, higgledy-piggledy, hurly burly, in complete disorder, intricate, mess, messy, mussy, out of order, pell mell, pellmell, promiscuous, snafu), karışıklık (bedlam, bungle, cataclysm, chaos, clamor, clamour, clutter, commotion, complexity, complication, confusion, disarrangement, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization, disturbance, dogs dinner, embroilment, ferment, fermentation, fray, frenzy, fuss, fuss and kerfufle, grab bag, havoc, higgledy-piggledy, huddle, hugger mugger, huggermugger, hurly burly, imbroglio, indiscrimination, intricacy, involution, jungle, kerfufle, maziness, mess, mishmash, misrule, mix, mix up, muddle, muss, perturbation, pie, pother, pretty kettle of fish, promiscuity, Ravel, riot, rough and tumble, ruckus, ruction, snafu, snarl, snarl up, stir, swirl, tangle, topsyturvy, topsyturvydom, tumble, turbidity, turbulence, unrest, upheaval, upset, wooliness, woolliness), kaçan kaçana, gelişigüzel (at haphazard, at random, by chance, by fits and starts, casual, cursory, desultory, excursive, go-as-you-please, haphazard, hit or miss, hit-and-miss, indiscriminate, promiscuous, random, scratch, scratchy), apar topar (headlong, hurriedly, pell mell, pellmell, posthaste), çil yavrusu gibi dağılarak. (various references) сум'яття (alarm, pandemonium, to-do, tumble, whirl), несподіваний (abrupt, accidental, extempore, occasional, surprising, unexpected, unhoped, unlooked for, unsuspected), метушня (ado, alarm, bustle, buzz, clutter, flurry, fuss, hurly burly, muss, razzle, razzle-dazzle, romps, rough and tumble, splutter, stir, stirabout, to-do, turmoil, whirl), абияк (anyhow, anyway, carelessly, hit or miss, negligently), безсистемний (haphazard), безладно (confusedly, disorderly, higgledy-piggledy, hugger mugger, pell mell, pellmell, promiscuously), безладний (amorphous, disorderly, dropping, excursive, harum scarum, higgledy-piggledy, hugger mugger, hurly burly, ill disposed, indiscriminate, inordinate, meandering, messy, orderless, outward, pell mell, pellmell, promiscuous, rambling, scrappy, shapeless, topsy turvy, tumultuary). (various references) tình trạng hỗn loạn (lawlessness, pell-mell, topsyturvydom), sự tán loạn. (various references) pendraphen (confused), blithdraphlith, blith draphlith. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Words rhyming with "helter-skelter" (pronounced 'Hel"ter-skel"ter'): Abutter, Acater, Acquitter, Adelaster, Admitter, Adulter, Aflutter, Aglitter, Alabaster, Allotter, Amylobacter, Antitrochanter, Apporter, Atter, Auntter, Auster, Balter, Baxter, Beflatter, Begetter, Bemaster, Beplaster, Bescatter, Besetter, Bespatter, Bewinter, Blatter, Blotter, Boroughmaster, Boulter, Bunter, Buster, Canaster, Cauter, Cheirepter, Chitter, Chowter, Cinter, Circumcenter, Climacter, Clotter, Clyster, Coleopter, Colter, Committer, Complotter, Concertmeister, Coniroster, Coster, Crater, Cremaster, Culter, Cutter, daughter, Dentiroster, Diaster, Disembitter, Disimbitter, Dunter, Embetter, Enaunter, Encloister, Enfester, Enfetter, Enshelter, Ester, feuter, Flawter, Forgetter, Forster, Fouter, Frater, Fretter, Getter, Glyster, goiter, goitre, Goter, Grammaticaster, granddaughter, Hemipter, Heteropter, hitter, Homopter, Horopter, Huxter, hymenopter, Imbitter, Imitater, Impester, Incenter, Incloister, Infilter, Instanter, Interchapter, Interpilaster, Intromitter, Iter, Jetter, jotter, Jowter, kelter, knitter, LAUGHTER, Lepidopter, Lester, loiter, Longiroster, Magister, mater, matter, Mesogaster, Micraster, Misalter, Misenter, Mismeter, Natter, Neuropter, Nitter, Nutter, Oleaster, Olivaster, Omitter, Orthocenter, Outflatter, Overflutter, Overmaster, Overpester, Oxter, Oyster, Paraunter, Pentecoster, Permitter, Pester, Pewter, Phenicopter, Philister, Phycomater, Phylacter, Physeter, Piaster, Pinaster, Pineaster, Poulter, Powter, Pressiroster, Protureter, Psalter, Pseudohalter, Quarter, Quartter, Quitter, Rapter, ratter, rebutter, Recenter, Recurviroster, Reiter, Remitter, Rhinaster, Rhipipter, roster, Santer, scienter, scoter, Scutter, Self-slaughter, semester, sinter, Sitter, Skelter, Slatter, slitter, Souter, Sowter, Spelter, Spilter, splatter, splitter, spotter, Strutter, Stylaster, submitter, supplanter, tam-o'-shanter, teeter, Tenuiroster, thereafter, thysanopter, Toscatter, totter, transmitter, Trichopter, trimester, trochanter, trotter, Twinter, Uncloister, Unfetter, Unshutter, Unsister, ureter, Verticillaster, Walter, Whetter, Xyster, Yester, Zoster. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-e-e-e-h-k-l-l-r-r-s-t-t" | |
-4 letters: letterers, reletters, shelterer. | |
-5 letters: letterer, reletter, reseller, resetter, resettle, streeker, teethers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)48 65 6C 74 65 72 2D 73 6B 65 6C 74 65 72 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001000 01100101 01101100 01110100 01100101 01110010 00101101 01110011 01101011 01100101 01101100 01110100 01100101 01110010 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)H e l t e r - s k e l t e r |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0048 0065 006C 0074 0065 0072 002D 0073 006B 0065 006C 0074 0065 0072 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4271788671841585777178867184 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Translations: Modern 7. Rhymes 8. Anagrams | 9. Orthography 10. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
