topsy-turvy

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Adverb
• HYPHEN: top=sy-tur=vy

CIDE DICTIONARY

topsy-turvy, adv. [Earlier topside-turvey, topsy-tervy; probably for top so turvy; that is, the top as turvy, as it were turvy; where turvy probably means, overturned, fr. AS. torfian to throw.].

 In an inverted posture; with the top or head downward; upside down; as, to turn a carriage topsy-turvy.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

topsy-turvy, adv., adj., & n.
--adv. & adj.
1 upside down.
2 in utter confusion.
--n. utter confusion.

Derivative

topsy-turvily adv. topsy-turviness n.

Etymology

app. f. TOP(1) + obs. terve overturn

THESAURUS

topsy-turvy

backwards, chaotic, confused, disordered, disorderly, disorganized, every which way, head over heels, higgledy-piggledy, in a muddle, inverted, jumbled, messy, mixed-up, muddled, reversed, untidy, upside down, vice versa

ROGET THESAURUS

topsy-turvy

Disorder

N disorder, derangement, irregularity, anomaly, anarchy, anarchism, want of method, untidiness, disunion, discord, confusion, confusedness, mishmash, mix, disarray, jumble, huddle, litter, lumber, cahotage, farrago, mess, mash, muddle, muss, hash, hodgepodge, hotch-potch, hotch-pot, imbroglio, chaos, omnium gatherum, medley, mere mixture, fortuitous concourse of atoms, disjecta membra, rudis indigestaque moles, complexity, turmoil, ferment, to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble, whirlwind, bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors, Bedlam, all hell broke loose, bull in a china shop, all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay, pretty kettle of fish, pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business, disorderly person, disorderly persons offence, misdemeanor, slattern, slut (libertine), disorderly, orderless, out of order, out of place, out of gear, irregular, desultory, anomalous, acephalous, deranged, aimless, disorganized, straggling, unmethodical, immethodical, unsymmetric, unsystematic, untidy, slovenly, dislocated, out of sorts, promiscuous, indiscriminate, chaotic, anarchical, unarranged &c (arrange), confused, deranged, topsy-turvy, shapeless, disjointed, out of joint, troublous, riotous, complex, irregularly, by fits, by fits and snatches, by fits and starts, pellmell, higgledy-piggledy, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, in a ferment, at sixes and sevens, at cross-purposes, upside down, the cart before the horse, hysteron proteron, chaos is come again, the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.

Inversion

N inversion, eversion, subversion, reversion, retroversion, introversion, contraposition, contrariety, reversal, turn of the tide, overturn, somersault, somerset, summerset, culbute, revulsion, pirouette, transposition, transposal, anastrophy, metastasis, hyperbaton, anastrophe, hysteron proteron, hypallage, synchysis, tmesis, parenthesis, metathesis, palindrome, pronation and supination, inverted, wrong side out, wrong side up, inside out, upside down, bottom upwards, keel upwards, supine, on one's head, topsy-turvy, sens dessus dessous, inverse, reverse, opposite, top heavy, inversely, hirdy-girdy, heels over head, head over heels.