Word.ws English Dictionary

topsy-turvily

topsy-turvily adverb: in a topsy-turvy manner, chaotically.

Adverb

topsy-turvily (comparative more topsy-turvily, superlative most topsy-turvily)

  1. In a topsy-turvy manner, chaotically.
    • You frighten me a little by the order that is all through you. Even your sins appear to have unity, whereas I keep house topsy-turvily in my innermost being.1920, Mabel Wood Martin, chapter 7, in The Green God’s Pavilion, New York: Frederick A. Stokes, page 92
    • While groping her way about, Eve barked her shins against pieces of furniture that seemed to be lying topsy-turvily about.1940, Emma Orczy, chapter 14, in Mam’zelle Guillotine, London: Hodder & Stoughton

Forms of topsy-turvily

comparativemore topsy-turvily
superlativemost topsy-turvily

Origin of topsy-turvily

From topsy-turvy + -ly.

Questions about topsy-turvily

What does topsy-turvily mean?
Topsy-turvily means in a topsy-turvy manner, chaotically.
What part of speech is topsy-turvily?
Topsy-turvily is an adverb.

Words near topsy-turvily in the dictionary

  1. topsy-turvier
  2. topsy-turvies
  3. topsy-turviest
  4. topsy-turvification
  5. topsy-turvify
  6. topsy-turvily
  7. topsy-turviness
  8. topsy-turvy
  9. topsy-turvydom
  10. topsy-turvyed
  11. topsy-turvying

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: topsy-turvily (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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Cite this entry: “topsy-turvily.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/topsy-turvily. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.