as in reckless
having or showing a lack of concern for the consequences of one's actions
a harum-scarum dash through the crowded terminal to make the flight
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in frantically
in a confused and reckless manner
tossed everything harum-scarum from the closet in a desperate attempt to find her shoes
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of harum-scarum
Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Adjective
Years of harum-scarum borrowing and spending combined with economic wallops from the Covid-19 pandemic, soaring interest rates and inflation helped drive up Kenya’s debt to $80 billion.
—Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 4 May 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harum-scarum
Adjective
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Aybar-Berroa also has a criminal history in New York City that includes arrests for second-degree reckless endangerment in May 2023 and fourth-degree felony grand larceny and petit larceny in March and April 2024, officials said.—
Landon Mion,
FOXNews.com,
25 July 2025
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He is charged with two counts of first-degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime in the teens' shooting deaths.—
Chris Ramirez,
jsonline.com,
24 July 2025
Adverb
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The sky flashes with lightning as frantically as a toddler with a light switch.—
Colleen Hagerty,
Rolling Stone,
27 July 2025
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Even the Dodgers, the team that seemingly had everything, are frantically trying to shore up a porous bullpen.—
Bill Madden,
New York Daily News,
26 July 2025
Adjective
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Club Med Cancun has a new sports and wellness island with a dedicated palapa for quiet yoga classes, archery, bocce ball, mini golf, multi-sport courts and the iconic Club Med Circus School where guests can participate in their own trapeze lessons and other daredevil acrobatics.—
Ramsey Qubein,
Forbes.com,
27 July 2025
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Colerain Township native and daredevil photographer Isaac Wright was arrested May 15 at the end of his first solo gallery exhibition in New York City, his lawyer said.—
Cameron Knight,
The Enquirer,
2 July 2025
Adverb
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All of it wild-caught.—
Amy Drew Thompson,
orlandosentinel.com,
14 Aug. 2020
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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
Adjective
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In today’s opinions newsletter: What worries Arizona farmers, the state’s first Turquoise Alert and a daring canal rescue.—
Joanna Allhands,
AZCentral.com,
26 July 2025
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The series follows the daring exploits of Tamar Rabinyan, a highly-skilled Mossad agent dispatched to the Iranian capital to undermine the mullahs’ burgeoning nuclear weapons program.—
Michael M. Rosen,
The Washington Examiner,
25 July 2025
Adverb
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Today, governments are wildly off track to achieve them.—
Amitabh Behar,
Time,
28 July 2025
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Some commentators were quick to dismiss the investigation or shift the blame, saying that Hamas fighters had been stealing aid shipments and selling the food and medicine at wildly inflated prices, or claiming that Hamas had been firing on Palestinians.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
28 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Harum-scarum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harum-scarum. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.
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