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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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
-
The German foreign minister flew to the United States on February 2 and returned to Europe the same night in a hurried effort to convince Baker of the need for a nonexpansion pledge to secure German unification.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
9 Apr. 2025
-
The student's hurried departure comes as federal officials consider whether to bring terrorism charges against people who participated in last year's sit-ins and encampments that began at Columbia University but spread nationally.—
Trevor Hughes,
USA TODAY,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Monday's event was the latest congressional town hall to get chaotic.—
Joe Walsh,
CBS News,
21 Apr. 2025
-
As a governance matter, some investors complained that the pivots are too chaotic.—
Justin Worland,
Time,
18 Apr. 2025
Adverb
-
His hands, ordinarily trapped in the pockets of his tracksuit when not frantically presenting tactical instructions or wagging a finger at opposition benches, escaped midway through the second half of his side’s 2-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion to savour the moment with the Palace supporters.—
Matt Woosnam,
New York Times,
7 Apr. 2025
-
Workers at the plant tried frantically to contain the damage, by, for example, spraying seawater from fire hoses and rigging up car batteries to supply power.—
Elizabeth Kolbert,
New Yorker,
7 Apr. 2025
Adverb
-
In an interview with the Financial Times published Monday, Langone decried Trump’s tariffs as too large, imposed too hastily, and based on an incoherent mathematical formula.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Apr. 2025
-
The fresh graves of their dead wives and children are lined neatly in a row, the result of a strike hastily agreed to over text message thousands of miles away.—
Rozina Ali,
New Yorker,
8 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Plus, Sherman-Palladino and Palladino were amenable to her perspective on Geneviève, an overburdened, passionate woman with a messy personal life.—
Emily Zemler,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Apr. 2025
-
The answer turned out to be an inversion of sorts — Kate ended up with a lot of comics Clint’s beats, including Lucky, the Pizza Dog, the messy apartment, and the fun trick arrows.—
Nola Pfau,
Vulture,
17 Apr. 2025
Adverb
-
For example, two people in the same role might take home wildly different paychecks.—
Jack Kelly,
Forbes.com,
9 Apr. 2025
-
The duet continues throughout the chorus, with the woman singing the words and the dog barking along to the beat when given the microphone, and other people in the room laughing wildly at the interaction.—
Raja Krishnamoorthi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
While no supporter — surely — would swap any of that frenetic, headlong decade for Tottenham’s inert version of stability, glory becomes addictive.—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
-
This endless, headlong energy can produce a caffeinated buzz that rises to the brain on little prickling bubbles of enjoyment.—
Tom Gliatto,
People.com,
26 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 25 Apr. 2025.
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