helter-skelter

1. 1.

   haphazardly

   “the books were piled up helter-skelter”

   Synonymsevery which way

Questions about helter-skelter

What does helter-skelter mean?

helter-skelter means "lacking a visible order or organization". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in helter-skelter?

helter-skelter has 4 syllables: hel-ter--skel-ter. The stress falls on "skel". In IPA it is /ˌhɛltɚˈskɛltɚ/.

What is another word for helter-skelter?

Close synonyms include chaotic, pell-mell, every which way. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is helter-skelter a common word?

helter-skelter is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.