pell-mell (adjective) - 1 : in mingled
confusion or
disorder; 2 : in confused
haste Example:
The children came tearing through the room, knocking over the lamp, tipping over chairs, and scattering papers pell-mell all over the floor.Tidbit:
The word "
pell-mell" was formed through a process called "
reduplication." The process -- which involves the repetition of a word or part of a word, often including a slight change in its
pronunciation -- also generated such terms as "
bow-wow," "
helter-skelter," "
flip-flop," and "
walkie-talkie." Yet another product of reduplication is "
shilly-shally," which started out as a single-word
compression of the question "
Shall I?" "Pell-mell" traces to the
Middle French "
pelemele" which has the same meaning as the
English "pell-mell."
Kudos to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary - www.m-w.com