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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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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Example 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
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
The brokers surged out of the exchange, stumbling pell-mell over each other in the general confusion, and reached their respective offices in racehorse time.
—Mickey Butts, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Sep. 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
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
The brokers surged out of the exchange, stumbling pell-mell over each other in the general confusion, and reached their respective offices in racehorse time.
—Mickey Butts, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Sep. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pell-mell
Adjective
-
My Dien is a hurried cluster that has grown up ad hoc, with buildings of varying sizes rising like reeds from a fertile swamp.—
Damien Cave,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 2025
-
This comes as the Trump administration has faced growing criticisms for its hurried proceedings to remove as many noncitizens from the country as quickly as possible.—
Alana Wise,
NPR,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The 2021 withdrawal was unacceptably chaotic and bloody, the takeover by the Taliban shameful, but that war is now over.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
26 May 2025
-
No dogs will be allowed because Matthews didn’t want dogs’ first experience at the facility to be chaotic and filled with stress.—
Sean Krofssik,
Hartford Courant,
25 May 2025
Adverb
-
The movie is so divided in its storytelling aims that there’s a sequence where Li’s tournament rounds and training are spliced in with moments of character and story development, connected by frantically fast drone shots that zip over the city.—
Katie Walsh,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2025
-
The person who was frantically collecting certifications starts asking deeper questions about how to apply their learning.—
Michael Hudson,
Forbes.com,
29 May 2025
Adverb
-
Her team hastily designed a sliding-scale lockdown system.—
Rachel Morris,
New Yorker,
5 June 2025
-
Wonder how many Lake County lawmakers actually read this document that received little public review and was hastily adopted in the last 48 hours of the session?—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
4 June 2025
Adjective
-
The plating was a little messy on a few dishes during my visit.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 June 2025
-
The real world can be messy, and issues will occasionally come up that are out of your control.—
Egor Karpovich,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025
Adverb
-
The wildly popular convenience store chain, known for its clean restrooms, extensive Southern food offerings, and huge footprint, has set its sights on Virginia’s Rockingham County for its first foray into the state.—
Melissa Locker,
Southern Living,
28 May 2025
-
Indeed, given the terrible history of indigenous children being torn away from their families, many pointed out that the creative choice came across as wildly insensitive.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2025
Adjective
-
This momentary pause, this saving interruption of the headlong, breathless trajectory of rape or murder, admitted a kind of compassion, pity, even tenderness, halting injustice in its tracks.—
Sarah Beckwith,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
-
But swirling around it are immigration restrictions, headlong and haphazard reductions in Federal spending and a separate but related confidence shock weighing on consumer behavior.—
Michael Santoli,
CNBC,
22 Mar. 2025
Adverb
-
All of it wild-caught.—
Amy Drew Thompson,
orlandosentinel.com,
14 Aug. 2020
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Pell-mell.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pell-mell. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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