topsy-turviness


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top·sy-tur·vy

 (tŏp′sē-tûr′vē)
adv.
1. With the top downward and the bottom up; upside-down.
2. In or into a state of utter disorder or confusion: "turning our ordered life topsy-turvy" (Anne Tyler).
adj. top·sy-tur·vi·er, top·sy-tur·vi·est
1. Turned or positioned upside down; inverted.
2. Confused or disordered.
n. pl. top·sy-tur·vies
The quality or condition of being topsy-turvy.

[Probably from top + obsolete terve, to overturn (from Middle English terven).]

top′sy-tur′vi·ly adv.
top′sy-tur′vi·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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topsy-turviness

noun
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
Announcing this topsy-turviness does not alarm them.
For all the topsy-turviness at the top, it's likely at least two of the traditional Champions League clubs will make it, which would appear to be Manchester City and Arsenal.
For many children and adults alike, what makes Purim Purim are the customs that turn it into a celebration of topsy-turviness. While sometimes entertaining and usually innocuous, these customsdrunkenness, farcical plays, costumesremain a contentious matter in Jewish law and raise larger questions regarding the underlying meaning of the holiday.