harum-scarum

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The Maoris started the second-half in harum-scarum fashion, going down to 13 men when TK Howden and Bailyn Sullivan both committed yellow-card offences, but Scotland could only score five points in that 10-minute spell.

From BBC • Jul. 5, 2025

Fred is a harum-scarum kind of player, someone who, to the untrained observer, tends to dash about with no obvious purpose.

From BBC • Dec. 5, 2021

Of Custer, killed two years later at the Little Bighorn, Grinnell would write that he “knew nothing about Indians and was anyhow a harum-scarum fellow.”

From New York Times • Jul. 24, 2019

That made for harum-scarum early fare in which the Lions held their own with the Premier League team.

From The Guardian • Jan. 25, 2013

The now vigorous boy might go at his companions harum-scarum, with sword and buckler..

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White