1
as in hurried
acting or done with excessive or careless speed
when the theater doors opened, there was a pell-mell rush for the best seats
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in chaotic
lacking in order, neatness, and often cleanliness
pell-mell piles of books everywhere in the professor's library
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1
as in frantically
in a confused and reckless manner
tossed stuff pell-mell into the dorm room
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2
as in hastily
with excessive or careless speed
ran pell-mell down the road to get help
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of pell-mell
Nicolas Rapold, airmail.news, 23 Nov. 2024
Abe and Mary are part Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, part George and Martha, part the old vaudevillians George Burns and Gracie Allen, all running together pell-mell toward the Copacabana.
—Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 12 July 2024
Its unreformed economy is in secular decline, while its pell-mell effort to modernize its armed forces and take strategic initiative has revived NATO, terrified Russia’s formerly pro-Russian neighbors, and put off much of the world.
—Alexander J. Motyl, Foreign Affairs, 25 Sep. 2016
Administration officials don’t see this situation as similar to October 2022, when the intelligence community saw a significant possibility Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons to avert a collapse of Russia’s front lines in Ukraine and prevent a pell-mell retreat.
—David Ignatius, Washington Post, 21 June 2024
Ultimately, the more naturalistic second half — which has a realistic set with chairs and tables, delivered in a clunky black-out transition by intrusive stagehands — gets as sharp and loud as the pell-mell sounds-and-lights first half.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 12 Apr. 2024
Only a few of them stopped with remainder racing pell-mell through the intersection as approaching cars on Charles braked abruptly.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 25 Apr. 2024
Ministry is not nearly as proficient as Chad Stahelski’s John Wick 4 or Matthias Schweighöfer’s Army of Thieves, but the pell-mell combat scenes are consistently cartoonish.
—Armond White, National Review, 19 Apr. 2024
America saw a pell-mell downsizing of gas-guzzling vehicles and a simultaneous ramping up of imports of fuel-efficient Japanese cars.
—Jim Krane, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2023
Adverb
People ran pell-mell outside, sped away in cars with no clear destination, went to church, or just phoned the police or radio station to hyperventilate.
—Nicolas Rapold, airmail.news, 23 Nov. 2024
Abe and Mary are part Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, part George and Martha, part the old vaudevillians George Burns and Gracie Allen, all running together pell-mell toward the Copacabana.
—Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 12 July 2024
Its unreformed economy is in secular decline, while its pell-mell effort to modernize its armed forces and take strategic initiative has revived NATO, terrified Russia’s formerly pro-Russian neighbors, and put off much of the world.
—Alexander J. Motyl, Foreign Affairs, 25 Sep. 2016
Administration officials don’t see this situation as similar to October 2022, when the intelligence community saw a significant possibility Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons to avert a collapse of Russia’s front lines in Ukraine and prevent a pell-mell retreat.
—David Ignatius, Washington Post, 21 June 2024
Ultimately, the more naturalistic second half — which has a realistic set with chairs and tables, delivered in a clunky black-out transition by intrusive stagehands — gets as sharp and loud as the pell-mell sounds-and-lights first half.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 12 Apr. 2024
Only a few of them stopped with remainder racing pell-mell through the intersection as approaching cars on Charles braked abruptly.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 25 Apr. 2024
Ministry is not nearly as proficient as Chad Stahelski’s John Wick 4 or Matthias Schweighöfer’s Army of Thieves, but the pell-mell combat scenes are consistently cartoonish.
—Armond White, National Review, 19 Apr. 2024
America saw a pell-mell downsizing of gas-guzzling vehicles and a simultaneous ramping up of imports of fuel-efficient Japanese cars.
—Jim Krane, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pell-mell
Adjective
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Just handshakes, quiet embraces and a hurried effort by the military to get everybody home in time for Christmas.David Wolman, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2025
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Mings’ handball turned out to be decisive and Emery, speaking in a hurried post-match press conference, partially blamed his team’s loss on the incident.Jacob Tanswell, The Athletic, 29 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Republican lawmakers called the chaotic exit one of the darkest moments of Biden's administration.Michael Gfoeller And David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 15 Jan. 2025
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Streets pulse with music, laughter, and a packed calendar of events, creating an electric atmosphere that draws both locals and visitors into one joyous and chaotic rhythm.Joyce Onuorah, Essence, 14 Jan. 2025
Adverb
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While the rest of the globe frantically fetishized growth targets, Bhutan shunned opportunities to monetize its considerable natural resources—including lumber, coal, and minerals—that would have come at the expense of the environment.By Charlie Campbell/Gelephu, Bhutan, TIME, 16 Jan. 2025
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The aviation industry is frantically searching for scalable solutions.Phil De Luna, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025
Adverb
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Residents of a senior living center were hastily evacuated, some pushed down streets in wheelchairs and hospital beds.Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 10 Jan. 2025
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The next day, a midlevel appeals court hastily held oral arguments and rejected Trump’s delay request.Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 9 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Think: Date nights, birthdays, team outings — anyone looking for a creative outlet who doesn't mind getting a little messy.McKenzie Rankin, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025
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Entanglement gets messy To probe the inner structure of protons, scientists looked at high-energy particle collisions that have occurred in facilities like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).Robert Lea, Space.com, 7 Jan. 2025
Adverb
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Their only hope lies with the wildly inconsistent Matthew Stafford, who ate up the Minnesota Vikings blitzes last week.Vic Tafur, The Athletic, 17 Jan. 2025
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The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the law ordering ByteDance to sell its wildly popular app, making TikTok's removal from app stores by Sunday all but certain.Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The issue is whether the briskly growing services sector and headlong AI-investment buildout can bolster aggregate growth rates in a way that doesn’t bring additional stress on the housing and goods-producing sectors.Michael Santoli, CNBC, 11 Jan. 2025
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Venu responded to the challenges of launching a new sports streamer with headlong momentum, landing former Apple exec Pete Distad to serve as CEO last March before setting a launch target and an opening subscription rate of $42.99 per month.Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 10 Jan. 2025
Adverb
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All of it wild-caught.Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 14 Aug. 2020
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Our first stop is in a wild-looking stretch 200 yards south of the railroad tracks and State Street.Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 2 Jan. 2023
Thesaurus Entries Near pell-mell
Cite this Entry
“Pell-mell.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pell-mell. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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