pell-mell
or pell·mell
in disorderly, headlong haste; in a recklessly hurried manner.
in a confused or jumbled mass, crowd, manner, etc.: The crowd rushed pell-mell into the store when the doors opened.
indiscriminate; disorderly; helter-skelter: a pell-mell dash after someone.
overhasty or precipitate; rash: pell-mell spending.
a confused or jumbled mass, crowd, etc.
disorderly, headlong haste.
Origin of pell-mell
1Words Nearby pell-mell
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pell-mell in a sentence
He pointed to them and began to run pell-mell back to the border, and I followed.
For now, the momentum does appear to be firmly behind the rebel forces in the east and their pell-mell dash through the desert.
Libya's Rebels Advance on Gaddafi's Hometown | Babak Dehghanpisheh | March 5, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTWe sat down pell-mell, anywhere, I next to Liszt, who kept putting things on my plate.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayThe scene beggars description; bags, bundles, bales, boxes are pitched out pell-mell.
Round the Wonderful World | G. E. MittonNow, here seemed simple panic: and like a pack of dogs which rush to mangle a mongrel, they were at him pell-mell.
The Lord of the Sea | M. P. Shiel
Her first thought was of the rabbit, and she came running pell-mell across the garden to greet him.
Bumper, The White Rabbit | George Ethelbert WalshToby clapped both hands to his ears, and in a flash the red-headed girl seized Bumper in her arms and ran pell-mell from the room.
Bumper, The White Rabbit | George Ethelbert Walsh
British Dictionary definitions for pell-mell
/ (ˈpɛlˈmɛl) /
in a confused headlong rush: the hounds ran pell-mell into the yard
in a disorderly manner: the things were piled pell-mell in the room
disordered; tumultuous: a pell-mell rush for the exit
disorder; confusion
Origin of pell-mell
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for pell-mell
In a confused, disorderly manner: “After the assembly, the students ran pell-mell from the auditorium.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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