as in commotion
a state of noisy, confused activity
lost sight of his children in all the hurly-burly of the fair
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Recent Examples of hurly-burly
Rosenblatt now lives in a gray, semidetached Victorian house on a somnolent road just off the hurly-burly of a North London high street.
—
John Lahr, New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2026
But mostly for my parents, who had worked so hard for so many years to create a refuge from the hurly-burly of the outside world.
—James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2025
Mustard admires the fact that, rather than engage in the hurly-burly of social media, Lamar will disappear from public view for long stretches of time.
—Tribune News Service, Boston Herald, 22 Aug. 2024
Trump Has Promised to Do in a Second Term
Compounding all of this household hurly-burly is the fact that Suada has stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 3 Apr. 2024
The image’s low contrast and lack of sharpness suggest that it was snapped from the hurly-burly of the piazza.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2023
In the hurly-burly of a modern economy, people are constantly being hurt by economic changes beyond their control.
—Alan S. Blinder, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2018
John Lahr, New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2026
But mostly for my parents, who had worked so hard for so many years to create a refuge from the hurly-burly of the outside world.
—James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2025
Mustard admires the fact that, rather than engage in the hurly-burly of social media, Lamar will disappear from public view for long stretches of time.
—Tribune News Service, Boston Herald, 22 Aug. 2024
Trump Has Promised to Do in a Second Term
Compounding all of this household hurly-burly is the fact that Suada has stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 3 Apr. 2024
The image’s low contrast and lack of sharpness suggest that it was snapped from the hurly-burly of the piazza.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2023
In the hurly-burly of a modern economy, people are constantly being hurt by economic changes beyond their control.
—Alan S. Blinder, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hurly-burly
Noun
-
Linderbaum, a Pro Bowl selection in each of the past three seasons, signed a three-year, $81 million deal with the Raiders at the start of free agency, which added additional intrigue to the commotion surrounding Baltimore’s abandonment of the Crosby trade.—
Michael Silver,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Could hear what sounded like gunshots or commotion.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
But since that ridge shifted from Northern California in early April, the new pattern has invited multiple low-pressure disturbances into the region.—
Rick Hurd,
Mercury News,
27 Apr. 2026
-
About 4% of those students — or roughly 300,000 students — are labeled with emotional disturbance.—
Laurie Stern,
NPR,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The Chiefs finished in the bottom quarter of the NFL in sacks and quarterback hurries in 2025, per Pro Football Reference.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
29 Apr. 2026
-
No one seems in a hurry to be anywhere else.—
Andrea Domanick,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The turmoil has included the sudden resignation of then-Supt.—
Howard Blume,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2026
-
The Twin Cities’ response to a sweeping federal immigration crackdown that threw communities and local economies into turmoil offers a glimpse of what resilience and solidarity look like in practice.—
Melissa Jun Rowley,
Rolling Stone,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
White-Jacket did cause a stir with its discussion of the arbitrary and cruel use of flogging in the US Navy.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Remove the foil and give the orzo another good stir, then bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the orzo is tender and creamy.—
Kelly McCarthy,
ABC News,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Its red, orange and yellow daisy-like blooms keep coming through the hottest months with almost no fuss — a strong choice for gardeners who would rather enjoy their yard than baby it.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Apr. 2026
-
The plants that earn their place in a hot-weather bed are the ones that keep blooming when the thermometer climbs, draw butterflies and hummingbirds without fuss and reward you with the kind of color that makes a morning cup of coffee on the porch feel like a small vacation.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Miami Herald,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Unions have aggressively answered complaints about data centers in ways that executives at tech giants and the development firms rarely do, unafraid to bluntly confront concerns about energy and water shortages, rising electric and water bills, or noise and quality-of-life objections.—
Marc Levy,
Fortune,
2 May 2026
-
The developer doesn’t expect the facility to create noise, odor or light pollution that would bother neighbors.—
Sofi Zeman
May 2,
Kansas City Star,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hurly-burly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hurly-burly. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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