higgledy-piggledy

WOTD – 9 November 2006    

English

Alternative forms

• higgledypiggledy

Pronunciation

• IPA: ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/

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Adjective

higgledy-piggledy (comparative more higgledy-piggledy, superlative most higgledy-piggledy)

1. In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.

   I can't find your memo since my desk is all higgledy-piggledy.

   • 1911 — H. G. Wells, The Country of the Blind

     The houses of the central village were quite unlike the casual and higgledy-piggledy agglomeration of the mountain villages he knew.

   • 1937 — Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat, 12 October

     For many years we have all known that the executive and administrative departments of the Government in Washington are a higgledy-piggledy patchwork of duplicate responsibilities and overlapping powers.

   • 1930 — Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

     The world is a higgledy-piggledy place, with things pleasant and unpleasant occurring in no particular sequence.

Synonyms

• (in disorder): disordered, disorderly, hugger-mugger, jumbled, topsy-turvy

Translations

in disorder

• Finnish: hujan hajan, sikin sokin

• French: pêle-mêle (fr), en désordre (fr)

Adverb

higgledy-piggledy (comparative more higgledy-piggledy, superlative most higgledy-piggledy)

1. In a confused, disordered, or random way.
   • 1881 — James Greenwood, Low-Life Deeps, ch 11

     There is no kind of arrangement as regards the buildings they are erected "higgledy-piggledy;" backs to fronts, anyhow, with narrow passages between.

Synonyms

• (in a disordered way): willy-nilly

Translations

in a disordered way

• French: pêle-mêle (fr), en désordre (fr)

• Korean: 뒤죽박죽 (dwijuk-bakjuk)