Word.ws English Dictionary

higgledy-piggledies

higgledy-piggledies is the plural of higgledy-piggledy.

Meaning of higgledy-piggledy

Noun (1)

higgledy-piggledy (plural higgledy-piggledies)

  1. A disordered jumble; a confusion.
    • A Higgledy-Piggledy of Controversies and Opinions on various intereſting Subjects1779, Thomas Medley, The Shandymonian, subtitle
    Synonyms:
    hodgepodge

Noun (2)

higgledy-piggledy (plural higgledy-piggledies)

  1. A double-dactyl; a short poem with eight lines in dactylic meter.
    • Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical.1980, Gyles Brandreth, The Joy of Lex, page 123
  2. Any of various word games using rhyming compounds or dactylic words or phrases.
    • The games are a bit archaically presented, but they include palindromes, acrostics, higgledy-piggledies, anagrams, etc.1994, Herbert Kohl, Masters' Word Game Collection, page 249

See all 5 meanings of higgledy-piggledy

Questions about higgledy-piggledies

What is higgledy-piggledies the plural of?
Higgledy-piggledies is the plural of higgledy-piggledy.

Words near higgledy-piggledies in the dictionary

  1. higgle-haggled
  2. higgle-haggles
  3. higgle-haggling
  4. higgled
  5. higgledy
  6. higgledy-piggledies
  7. higgledy-piggledy
  8. higgledypiggledy
  9. higgler
  10. higglers
  11. higglery

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: higgledy-piggledies (page history and authors); higgledy-piggledy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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